


Unexpected

by BlancaPowell



Series: Unexpected [1]
Category: PlayChoices, The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Flirting, Bad Flirting, Denial of Feelings, Drama & Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Drama, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 44,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21808237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlancaPowell/pseuds/BlancaPowell
Relationships: Drake Walker & Main Character (The Royal Romance), Liam (The Royal Romance)/Original Character(s)
Series: Unexpected [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571434
Comments: 21
Kudos: 26





	1. ONE

_“I’m sorry Drake, I’m afraid I won’t make it, Madeleine wants to meet to discuss something ‘important’ before the wedding. Can we reschedule?”_

Drake sighed as he read over the message from his best friend. Liam had always been busy but ever since he got engaged to Madeleine, they barely even saw each other. Resigned, he opened the door to his favorite and the only American bar in Cordonia, and walked in. He sat down in his usual place and waited for one of the waiters to get his order.

“Hi! What can I get you?” He turned left to see a young and rather too enthusiastic waitress smiling at him. _Huh, that’s new. I haven’t seen her here yet._

“The usual, please.”

“And umm, what’s the usual for you? I’m sorry, this is my first day and I don’t know–”

“Yeah, I can tell. Whiskey, neat.” He interrupted her and turned his back to her. He was aware how rude he was acting but the whole thing with Liam made him mad and he wasn’t in a mood for talking to people.

“Sure,” she answered, her tone noticeably less cheerful. She walked away quickly and approached the barman.

“Hard first day, Riley?” He asked taking her notes from her.

“Was going well before this grump appeared,” she motioned Drake who glaced at her and saw her pointing him. He quickly turned away again.

“Ahh, Drake Walker. He has his moods but be nice to him, he’s our regular.”

“Oh great, I’m gonna see him every day, how nice,” she rolled her eyes and the barman laughed.

“His whiskey,” he handed her the glass. She took it, nodding in return.

“There you go! Anything else I can get for you?” Riley put the glass on the table and plastered a smile.

“No,” Drake answered taking his drink. She stood there waiting and he looked up.

“What?”

“Saying thank you doesn’t really cost much,” she answered and raised an eyebrow.

“Leaving me alone doesn’t cost much either.”

“Being nice doesn’t cost anything too, you know.”

“Not being annoying is kinda cheap too.”

“You’re cheap! What is even your problem?” She asked rasing her voice.

“My problem? You have a problem! I can’t even drink my whiskey in peace without a waitress bugging me.”

“Oohh, I’m sorry, your _highness_ , I’m out of your hair if I’m bugging you that much,” she bowed mockingly and walked away as Drake’s eyes went wide. _If she only knew…_

_“Drake, can you please stop by the palace? I need to tell you something and it’s important.”_

Drake looked at the message and sighed. He quickly downed the glass and left money on the table. Without saying anything he walked out of the bar.

“How is he a regular? I would’ve kicked him out for being a jerk.” Riley asked when she brought the empty glass back.

“He’s not that bad. I’ve heard many things are happening in his life now but what exactly no one knows. He’s too reserved to share anything.”

“I can bet nothing exciting is really happening, he’s just trying to pretend he has a life.”

~~~~

“Liam! I’m here!” Drake opened the door to Liam’s office and met with Liam’s serious expression. He looked tired and… upset?

“Did something happen?” Drake asked but before Liam could reply Maxwell came in as well.

“The bros are all here! What’s happening?”

“Maxwell! Stop calling us bros. I am not your bro.” Drake hissed.

“Ahem,” Liam cleared his throat and both men looked at him. “I asked you both to come to tell you something.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I… I can’t have kids. I found out about it today.”

“What? How… How do you know that?”

“Madeleine asked me to check if I could have kids since we would have to produce an heir. The results came today and turns out I can’t have kids,” Liam explained and looked down, not meeting his friends’ eyes.

“I’m so sorry, man,” Drake ran his hand through his hair. “There are other options, you know.”

“Yeah! You can appoint someone or… you know… other stuff,” Maxwell cut in.

“Cordonia needs an heir to ensure our stability. I’ve been pressured to marry someone so I chose Madeleine but now everyone is pressuring me to produce an heir. I can’t tell them I can’t have kids. I can’t fail them,” Liam’s voice broke slightly.

“Screw them. Honestly, they are just a bunch of–”

“Drake! I am their King and I have my responsibilities. Giving them an heir is one of them.”

“So what are you going to do?” Maxwell asked.

“I thought about it. I’m gonna ask Betrand if I can appoint Bartie as the heir to the crown. If Betrand and Savannah agree, of course.”

“Bartie? My nephew? Bartie?” Drake asked, his eyes widening. “That’s–”

“Fantastic!!! I’m going to be a King’s uncle!!! How amazing is that? Betrand will love the idea!” Maxwell cheered as Liam smiled at him weakly.

“Yes. Now excuse me, I need to inform Betrand and Savannah about my decision and hope for the best,” Liam stood up as a sign for the men to leave. Maxwell patted him on the shoulder before heading out but Drake stood still.

“Drake?”

“Are you sure you’re okay? I mean, that’s a big decision to make, are you sure–”

“I’m not sure of anything, Drake. I know I need to get married, produce an heir and rule. That’s all I know,” Liam rubbed his temples suddenly ashamed of his outburst. “I’m sorry Drake, it’s been a rough couple of weeks.”

“S’okay. Get some rest and I’m here if you need me,” Drake said before leaving Liam alone in the office.

~~~~

“Hello?” Drake answered the phone as he opened the door to his cabin.

“Drake! Hey! I have a huge favor to ask. Could you look after Bartie for a few hours? Liam asked us to come to discuss something and I don’t want to drag Bartie with us.”

“Sure, Sav. When are you going to drop him off?”

“Ten minutes? We’re on our way,” there was a silence on the other side as Savannah waited for the answer.

“Sure,” he just said as he looked around his little house, mentally taking note of everything he had to clean before his sister got there.

“Thank you, Drake, you’re the best!” Savannah hung up before she could hear Drake murmuring something in respose. For a day without any social interaction that Drake planned for himself, he had an awful lot of socializing.

Before his sister and her husband came, Drake managed to tidy the kitchen and the living room. He was just about to clean his bedroom when the bell rang.

“Aww, shit, they’re not going to get in here anyway,” he said to himself and went to open the door.

“Here’s Bartie and his stuff, it shouldn’t take us long but I don’t know what Liam wants from us,” Savannah explained handing him his nephew.

“His Majesty,” Betrand corrected and Drake rolled his eyes.

“Right. Once again, thank you so much for your help!” Savannah quickly kissed Bartie goodbye and got back into the car.

“I guess it means there’s only you and me buddy,” Drake whispered to Bartie who started crying in response. _It’s going to be a long evening…_

~~~~

“Riley! Come here for a second!”

“Coming!” Riley quickly left cleaning the tables and ran to the manager’s office.

“One of your customers left his wallet. You need to return it,” he said taking a wallet from the table and handing it to her.

“Return it? But that’s not my fault someone left the wallet! He should’ve been more careful!”

“Normally yes, but this man has been coming here for years and he rather feels like a friend of ours. I’ll give you the address and you’ll take it back to him. I’ll pay you extra.”

“But…”

“No buts! I would’ve done it myself but I’m too busy ordering new plates and glasses since you broke so many today,” the manager narrowed his eyes and she quickly nodded.

“Got it! Just give me the address and I’ll return it!”

~~~~

“Where’s uncle Drake? Here he is!”

“Weeeeeeeeee!”

Drake sighed as he sat down on the floor. He loved that kid but had absolutely no idea how to take care of him. Maybe Bartie simply didn’t like him.

His thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking on his door.

“Thank God,” he took Bartie in his arms and opened the door hoping to see his sister. However, the person standing there was definitely not his sister and his eyes widened as he recognized the person.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Riley rolled her eyes as she saw Drake.

“Seriously? You even came to my house to offend me?!”

“Weeeeeee!” Bartie started crying again and Riley noticed the kid in Drake’s arms.

“I… No, I’m here to–”

“Can you please come in? Bartie is getting cold,” Drake stepped back so Riley could come inside. He closed the door and looked at Riley expectantly.

“So? May I ask you what the hell are you doing here, in my house at this hour?”

“Like I wanted to!” she answered back trying her best not to punch him. “You left your stupid wallet and my stup– ahem, my boss asked me to bring it all the way here because apparently everyone likes you there. But just so you know, everyone except for me.”

“Wasn’t counting on it,” he said as he reached for the wallet.

“Weeeeeeee!”

“Shhh, Bartie, don’t worry. That scary lady is leaving.”

“I’m scary? The kid’s crying because his own father can’t even hold him right!”

“First of all, I know what I’m doing and secondly, I am not his father.”

“Ugh, look, you’re squeezing his belly,” Riley tried to take Bartie from Drake’s arms but he took a step back.

“You always know better, huh? We don’t even know each other’s names yet you’re already giving me parenting advice.”

“Because it hurts him! Here, let me,” she carefully took Bartie and he instantly stopped crying. She swayed a little to calm him down and it seemed to work as the kid smiled at her. Just as she was about to look triumphantly at Drake, the lights went out and Bartie started crying again.

“Great. Now use your amazing parenting skills again when I go and try to fix it,” Drake said before going outside.

“Sure. Of course. Go ahead,” she yelled after him, “because that’s still a part of my job as a waitress!”

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

“Shhh, Bartie, shh! Look, there’s my phone, let’s switch on the flashlight! Ohh, so much better, right?” She whispered to Bartie as he calmed down.

“Let’s go see where are your toys, okay?”

Riley started opening different doors to find anything that could catch Bartie’s attention but nothing in the kitchen or the bathroom seemed to fit her criterion. She opened the door to the room that was almost hidden and gasped at the sight. What must have been Drake’s bedroom was a mess, full of his dirty clothes, empty glasses and other things she wasn’t able to identify.

“Ugh, no wonder your uncle is alone. Who would want to live like that?” She asked Bartie and he giggled. She was just about to close the door when the lights went on again.

“What a relief, right darlin–”

“Who are you?!”

Riley turned around to see a woman and a man standing in the hollway. The man quickly walked up to her and took Bartie from her arms.

“Who are _you_? And why are you taking Bartie?”

“Bartie is our son. We left him for Drake to babysit him while we were out. And you’re…?” The woman asked her.

“I’m Riley and I was here because Drake forgot his wallet from–”

“Ohhh!! You’re Drake’s girlfriend! I get it! He never tells me anything!” The woman smiled as she shook Riley’s hand.

“No, no, wait. Hold up, I’m not–”

“That changes everything! I’m so pleased to know Drake finally has someone. My name is Bertrand Beaumont, Duke of House Ramsford and this is my wife Savannah.”

“It’s so nice to meet you! Drake’s always very secretive and you seem very nice! And Bartie likes you!”

“Nice meeting you too but seriously, Drake and I are not dating!”

“Ah, I see you’re just as reserved as he is! Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us,” Savannah winked at her and Riley wanted to throw up. _Her and Drake? Never, ever, ever, ever, eww._

“Well, you’re here now so I’m going to head out. It was a pleasure to meet you all, have a great night!” Riley said and practically ran out of the door.

“She seems nice,” Savannah told Betrand when there were only two of them.

“Indeed, my dear. She must be special if he decided to introduce her to Bartie.”

“Hey, I fixed the– Oh.” Drake walked in noticing his sister and her husband. “Hey, you’re back.”

“We are! And we’ve just met your secret girlfriend, Riley!” Savannah clapped her hands and Drake’s eyes widened.

“My _what_?!” _Riley, that’s a pretty name, huh._

“It’s okay, brother, we won’t tell anyone. She just left and I think we must have scared her away so I’m sorry you won’t be able to spend a nice, romantic night together.”

_Him and Riley? Never, ever, ever, ever, ever._

“No, Sav, it’s not like that, we don’t–”

“Drake, I get it! You can tell me all about her when you’re ready! But for now we have news!” She beamed as took her husband’s hand.

“Indeed, we do. Our son Bartie is officially the heir to the Cordonian throne!”


	2. TWO

“Oh no.”

Riley groaned when she saw Drake walking into the bar. It was the day after their little babysitting adventure and she hoped for at least one day break from seeing him.

“Whiskey?” She asked him not even bothering to take out her notebook.

“And ice,” he added.

“It’s cold outside, your throat is gonna–” she stopped herself. “You know what, nevermind. I’ll be right back.”

Drake only nodded in response and mentally got back to the conversation with Savannah and Betrand from last night. Clearly, Liam made a decision already. And his sister seemed happy. So why did Drake feel so weird?

He spent his whole life in the shadows. He liked it there. And now his nephew would be the heir. That sounded almost unreal, almost–

“We ran out of ice. Can I get you ice cold water instead?”

“What?” He looked at Riley as if she was crazy. “Do I look like a person who adds water to his whiskey?”

“Well, ice is also water,” she shrugged. “I thought I’d ask so you won’t think I’m rude or anything.”

“Too late for that. Can I have my drink now?” Riley’s eyes narrowed as she placed the drink on the table. Without glacing at her, Drake took a mouthful of the whiskey and took out his phone. Riley rolled her eyes but took a hint and left Drake alone.

She sat down on a stool beside the bar and looked at Drake. Why would his sister think she was his girlfriend. No, not just a girlfriend. A _secret_ girlfriend.

He didn’t look bad, she would assume he had many girlfriends but the way his family talked about him finally dating made her think maybe she was wrong.

“With that personality no wonder he’s alone,” she murmured to herself, still looking at him.

“Admiring the view, I see?”

“Whoaa, what? Him? The view? No? I was just thinking how annoying he is,” Riley answered, ashamed to have been caught staring at him.

“Riiiiight,” the bartender said winking at her.

“Why does everyone think I have a thing for him? You, his sister and her husband, that’s so–”

“Hoooold up! You met his sister? And you’re saying there’s nothing between you?”

“Nothing but hatred. He’s the most annoying grump I’ve ever met. He can’t even say thank you. Or act like a decent human being. And I met his sister only because I was in his house when she came.”

“You were in his house?!” His eyes widened. “Now that’s getting intersting. Maybe you also visted his bedroom, huh?” He teased her and Riley’s cheeks reddened. If he only knew…

“Yeah, like, what for, pfft!” She mocked taking a sip of water.

“I don’t know, there are many possibilites. Maybe to see what’s underneath this denim shirt or maybe–”

“Ahem,” Riley turned around to see Drake standing behind them with an empty glass. “Can I have another one?”

“Sure,” her voice wavered a little when she took the glass from Drake’s hands.

“I have a white tee under the denim one by the way,” he said before walking away. Riley’s eyes widened in horror as her friend covered his mouth trying not to laugh.

“Stop it! I hate you! Now he’ll think I talk about him!”

“But you do,” the bartender laughed dodgding her smack. She stuck out a tongue at him and glanced in Drake’s direction. _Here’s to hoping he doesn’t think I think about him. We can’t risk his ego getting even bigger._

~~~~

“Can you imagine my grandson will be the King? Bertrand, you’re living my dream life!” Barthelemy beamed holding Bartie. Drake rolled his eyes and took a swig of his drink.

He hated social gatherings per se, but what the hated ever more were the gatherings that involved Barthelemy. He decided to throw a little party celebrating his grandson offically becoming the heir to the throne. He invited many people but somehow forgot to say a word to Bartie’s grandmother, Bianca.

“Yes, yes, it’s truly an honor!” Godfrey agreed and Madeleine nodded. Why these two were invited, Drake had no idea. And judging from Betrand’s and Savannah’s reactions, they didn’t know either.

“It is indeed,” Madeleine said bitterly. “Congratulations.”

Drake looked around to see people chattering and felt as if his ears were about to fall off. He excused himself even though no one cared and left the party. As much as he was happy for Bertrand and Savannah, there was someone else who wasn’t so happy about it. And Drake meant it when he said he was going to be there for his friend.

~~~~

“Riley!”

“I’m coming!!!” she yelled back and ran to the manager’s office. “Please, don’t tell me Drake left his wallet here again.”

“No, but it’s good that you know his address. He needs to sign these documents today, can you please take them to him?”

“Excuse me, what?” Riley blinked a few times to make sure it was real. Did her manager just asked her to go to Drake’s _again_?

“Take these documents,” he explained slowly motioning a pile of papers, “and bring them to Drake. You know the address.”

“And why on Earth would Drake need to sign any documents?” she asked confused.

“Maybe because he owns the place? And he needs to sign them so we can get our salary?”

“He _what_?” _Oh boy, oh boy. Oh boy._

“He’s the owner of this bar. His best friend bought it for him a few years ago but Drake prefers to keep it private. Now please, get these documents to him.”

“On it!” She took the papers and ran out. Did that mean she was rude to her boss? And did that mean her boss thought she was talking about what was underneath his shirt with her friend?

_Oh boy._

~~~~

“Can’t a guy have at least one moment for himself?” Drake groaned as he heard someone knocking on the door. He walked to the door and opened it to reveal Riley. “Oh no, not you again.”

“Heyyy! How’s your evening? You look cozy! I have a few documents for you from my manager and I’m leaving you alone, don’t worry!” She smiled at him as he frowned.

“Are you ill? Why are you nice to me?”

“Ha ha! You’re so funny! Can I come in?” She asked and he nodded moving aside.

“You know,” he noticed and Riley nodded hesitantly.

“And I’m so sorry I was rude to you, I swear it’ll never happen again! Please don’t fire me, I need the money!”

“Fire you? I only own the place, your manager can fire you, not me,” he shrugged as he realized why she was so nice to him a few moments before.

“So, it doesn’t matter if I was rude?”

“Not to me.”

“Oh, good.” She shoved the papers on the table. “I wasn’t sure if I could keep on being nice to you, it felt so unnatural.”

“Yeah, I could tell. Please don’t do it again. It was scary.”

“Ugh! This is exactly your problem, you’re so annoying and–”

“Are you seriously offending me _again_? In my own house?”

“See? Natural reaction!” She explained and before Drake could say something back, his phone rang.

“Yes, Liam?” he answered and Riley rolled her eyes.

“Drake? I-I need to talk to someone. Madeleiene just called off our engagement.”


	3. THREE

Drake was pacing back and forth in Liam’s office, while his friend was sitting on a chair with his head down.

“Madeleine,” Drake started causing Liam to look up. “Madeleine called off the engagement. Herself. Madeleine?”

“Yes, Madeleine.” Liam rolled his eyes and took a swig of his drink.

“The same Madeleine we all know? The I-am-so-desperate-to-be-a-queen Madeleine? The one who would do anything to be your wife? Called off the engagement?”

“Yes, Drake, the same one. Please, stop,” Liam’s voice was weak and Drake knew he was hurting.

“I’m sorry Liam but I truly believe you’re better off without that witch. You never wanted to marry her!” Drake noticed Liam opening his mouth to say something so he added, “Maybe you don’t see it this way now but maybe you’ll still have a chance to marry for love! Now you’re free of Madeleine!”

Liam laughed but it wasn’t a sincere, happy laugh. “No, I didn’t love her. But I didn’t have any prospects of marriage. The people demand an heir and now that I know I can’t have kids, I lost a potential wife. I’m a failure as a King.”

“Come on, Li. You know you’re not. And you know what, screw the people. You’re the King, you make the rules, not them!”

“No, they’re right. My most important duty was to get married and produce an heir. And I failed.”

“You didn’t. You’re still young, you can find someone. Besides, the people have Bartie now! And they should be happy that you saved them from Madeleine being their Queen,” Drake tried to cheer his friend up but Liam didn’t seem to notice his efforts. He stayed silent for a few minutes before speaking again.

“She told me she had someone else.”

Drake turned to Liam, suprise on his face. “Who?”

“Madeleine. She said there was someone else. Someone she intends to marry.”

“What? Who’s the poor guy?”

“I don’t know. She said she’d let me know, so there’s that,” Liam took another swig only to notice his glass was empty.

“Huh, that’s weird. But don’t worry about it, please. Get some rest and we’ll think of something tomorrow, okay?’ Drake asked and Liam slowly nodded. He really was worried about his friend. These past few days were rough for Liam and he wished he could do something to help him.

~~~~

Next few weeks brought the answer for Liam and Drake’s questions. It was announced that Madeleine would soon marry… Barthelemy Beaumot, Maxwell and Betrand’s father.

“Isn’t he like twice as old as she is?”

“Worse, he’s like her father’s age!”

Both Olivia and Drake met up with Liam after the announcement and both didn’t even try to hide their disgust.

“Madeleine is older than me, older than Maxwell or you two. She’s more of my brother’s age. So no, he’s not twice as old as Madeleine is. And Godfrey had her at old age while Barthelemy had his sons rather young. Between them, there’s a big age difference,” Liam explained slowly and Drake was almost annoyed with how calm he was about it.

“Still, it’s gross. I’m not gonna change my mind,” Olivia announced and Drake had to agree with her.

“It’s weird. Why would she ditch Liam for…. him,” Drake wondered and Liam sighed.

“She said is was love. Who am I to judge? Now excuse me, the wedding is soon and she asked me to officiate so…” Liam left the office leaving Drake and Olivia stunned.

“She asked him to do what?” Drake asked not sure if he heard right.

“That bitch,” Olivia gritted her teeth. Drake looked at her. Him and Olivia were never friends but they both cared about Liam so they tolerated each other for his sake. Today though, Drake realized he agreed with pretty everything she said.

“Something is off. I don’t believe Madeleine is in love with him,” he said after a while and Olivia nodded.

“I don’t believe that witch is capable of loving anyone but her. I wonder what she’s planning.”

They both thought about it for a few moments before silently leaving Liam’s office as well, several scenarios going through their heads.

~~~~

Drake sat in the bar, mindlessly drinking his whiskey. Technically, he should be at Madeleine and Barthelemy wedding since Savannah invited him but he didn’t feel like being there. No one saw anything odd about it except for him and Olivia. Bertrand and Maxwell were a bit surprised at the news at first but quickly accepted their father’s decision. Savannah admitted Madeleine was much nicer to her now and even helped her organize a belated honeymoon, since Betrand and Savannah never had one. When Drake voiced his concern as to the marriage, she said it wouldn’t be the first time a woman married an older man and that she thought Madeleine really loved Barthelemy and vice versa. Despite it all, Drake still didn’t believe in Madeleine’s intentions.

“Can I get you another one?” Drake looked up to see Riley staring at him with her eyebrow raised.

“Yes, please,” he handed her an empty glass but she still stood still. “Yes?”

“Are you okay? You’ve been staring at this wall for fifteen minutes and didn’t even notice you were drinking water instead of whiskey.”

“You added water to my empty glass?” he asked surprised.

“Well, yeah, I wanted to check if you’d notice but you didn’t,” she shrugged. “What’s wrong?”

“You gave me water to drink and you’re asking me what is wrong? Are you–”

“No, I mean, what is going on? Why are you so distracted? You’re not even being rude to me.”

“First of all, it is you who’s being rude to me. Secondly, I don’t believe I need to tell you anything.” Drake stood up as if ready to leave.

“But–”

“Excuse me.” He left money on the table and walked away. Riley looked after him as he disappeared. She didn’t know what was going on but she was sure something must have happened.

“Bad day, huh?” her friend took the glass from her hands. She looked at him and then back at the door.

“Yeah, I think something is wrong. He wasn’t even grumpy.”

“Riley…”

“You know what, I think something bad happened. Maybe I should see what.”

“Riley…”

“You’re right, I need to go and ask him about it.”

“Riley!” The bartender raised his voice and Riley looked at him. “Why do you care so much about him?”

“What? Me? Care? About him? Ha, good joke! He’s just, you know, kinda our boss and you know that saying, ‘if your boss is sad, you are sad too.’’’

“There’s no such saying,” he shook his head.

“Maybe not here, it’s a New York thing. I just want to make sure he’s not gonna fire us.”

“And that’s why you want to visit him again?”

“Oh stop it. I know where you’re going. I don’t like him, he doesn’t like me. I will never ever even think about him like that. What I’m doing is purely work-related,” she explained and stormed off before she could hear her friend’s “Mhmm.”

~~~~

“Hello?” Drake answered the phone after the unknown number called him for the fifth time.

“Drake! My manager asked me to ask you how are you,” he heard a familiar voice and rolled his eyes.

“How did you get my number?”

“My manager gave me,” it wasn’t a lie if her manager gave her a few documents to sign and his number was there, right? “He wanted to know how you were doing.”

“Then he can ask me himself. I’m busy, goodbye,” Drake said and hung up.

“Rude!” Riley yelled into the phone but Drake didn’t hear her.

“Well, Mr Walker, luckily I know where you live,” she murmured to herself. She couldn’t exactly explain why she was so determined to know the reasons behind Drake’s bad mood but she blamed in on her curiosity. She was a naturally curious person. Or nosy, as her mother always claimed.

In just several minutes, she was there, knocking on the door, trying to come up with an excuse. The last thing she wanted was him to think she actually cared about him. What a ridiculous thought it–

“You again? What is your problem?” Drake asked when he opened the door.

“You are my problem! I came here to ask you about, umm, the rumors.” She bit her lip hoping he wouldn’t notice she was lying.

“Rumors?”

“Yes! There are rumors that say you want to fire all of us and I needed to ask you if that’s true. I’m a great waitress and I need that job so–”

“I’m not firing anyone. Is that all?”

“Wait, why are you so–”

“Is everything okay here?” Liam appeared in the doorway and Riley’s eyes widened as she recognized a man from the newspapers, TV and the internet.

“Your– Your Majesty!” She bowed, “I’m so sorry to intrude, I just– I am–”

“Leaving. Riley was just leaving,” Drake finished and Liam nodded.

“Pleased to meet you, Riley. Drake never told me about his new friend,” Liam smiled to her and her eyes widened.

“We’re not friends, Li. We’re quite the opposite. That woman is probably a bigger pain in the ass than Olivia,” Drake explained to his friend.

“No, not at all! I am so sorry I ever offended or insulted you or was rude, sir, umm, Drake? I had no idea you are in the Royal family,” she bowed to him too and Liam chuckled.

“Oh boy, here we go again,” Drake rolled his eyes and elbowed Liam. “I am not part of the Royal family. And once again, there’s no need to apologize, I can’t fire you, imprison you or whatever else you think I can.”

“So, that means—”

“Yes, you don’t have to be nice to me. You can go now,” Drake said and Riley quickly bowed to Liam and ran to her car.

“Stop it,” Drake said to Liam, seeing his friends laughing.

“You’re laughing, too,” Liam pointed out and Drake shook his head. “That woman is something. Maybe you–”

“No, Li. Whatever you were about to suggest, the answer is no. Never.”

~~~~

Weeks passed, Madeleine and Barthelemy celebrated their two-month anniversary, Liam kept himself busy with work, Savannah and Betrand left for their belated honeymoon leaving Bartie to the newlywed couple. And Drake still didn’t understand. Why Madeleine would marry Barthelemy (although he agreed that both were awful people so they did have something in common) and why would his sister leave her son to them not to him. He could take care of a child, couldn’t he?

His thoughts were interrupted by knocking on his door. He opened it and was about to greet his best friend but Liam had something unreadable on his face and Drake felt like something must have happened.

“Li?”

“Drake, I think you need to sit down,” he said calmly but Drake stood still. “Drake…”

“What is it? What happened?”

“It’s not certain but–”

“What is it?”

Liam took a long breath and looked down so he wouldn’t face his best friend. “It’s Betrand and Savannah. They went missing. The police can’t find them anywhere and told us to treat them… as if they were already dead.”

Drake looked at his friend, the words he just said not making sense. He felt as if the room was spinning around and he thought it was too hot for him there. Suddenly, the room stopped spinning, the sound of Liam’s voice flattered completely, and there was only darkness.


	4. FOUR

“Drake? Drake? Would you like some water?”

“Whiskey,” Drake rasped opening his eyes. He was lying on the couch in his living room, which meant Liam had to carry him after he passed out. Which reminded him…

Savannah and Betrand.

_No… No!_

“I gotta go, I need to find her,” Drake stood up and instantly felt dizzy.

“Go where? Find who?” Liam asked him curiously handing him a glass of water, clearly ignoring Drake’s plea for alcohol.

“Savannah. Wherever they went. I know I can find her. She is alive and okay, I know.”

“Drake,” Liam spoke softly. “The police said–”

“I don’t care what they’re saying. I’ll find her. Where did they go?”

“They were last seen in England,” Liam sighed and Drake’s eyes widened.

“England? What would they be doing there? It’s not exactly a honeymoon destination.”

“Apparently Bertrand had some things to do there and they stopped by on their way back home,” Liam rubbed his temples. “Listen, I know it is hard for you but–”

“You know nothing! Why wasn’t I informed about them going to England? Why didn’t my sister ever mention it to me? And why did the police just said to treat them as if they were dead? For how long were they missing that they decided on that?” Drake raised his voice and Liam winced.

“They were missing for four days before the police–”

“Four days and I find out about it just NOW?!”

“I thought I’d wait with telling you because I believed they would find them. I’m sorry, Drake,” Liam looked so miserable that Drake couldn’t even raise his voice again. He sat down next to his friend and tried to suppress his tears.

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Drake asked calmly.

“It is. I already sent a private investigator there, we’re in touch.”

“Good. I don’t believe it was an accident. Madeleine organized the trip.”

“Drake, she organized the honeymoon and nothing bad happened there. They went missing later.”

“You don’t believe me?” Drake looked at his friend as Liam shook his head.

“I do believe something is off but… I don’t want you to get your hopes up. It might have been an accident.”

Drake rolled his eyes before something else occurred to him. “Where’s Bartie?”

“He was staying with Barthelemy and Madeleine, Betrand asked them to babysit him for the week.”

“Who’s gonna take care of him now?” Drake asked, dreading the answer.

“Them, for now. You’re still Bartie’s uncle so you can visit him anytime you want.”

Drake nodded but his mind was elsewhere. He needed sleep, he needed whiskey, he needed peace.

“Hey, get some rest, man. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Liam patted him on the back and headed out without Drake even noticing. Drake sat on the sofa for hours, staring at the wall, before finally drifting off.

~~~~

The next few days passed in a blur. Everyone in Cordonia already knew about it and it all somehow made it even worse for Drake. It felt as if it was real.

Barthelemy closed himself in his study and did not want to talk to anyone for days. Maxwell didn’t smile for days and Drake couldn’t even drink whiskey. And Liam… He tried to keep it together for his friends’ sake.

A few days later, everyone from the Beaumont and Walker families (with exception of Bianca who was too depressed to come and with addition of Liam who wanted to support everyone) met over dinner, a small ceremony commemorating Betrand and Savannah. They didn’t want to organize a regular funeral without the bodies so instead they prepared a small ceremony in Madeleine and Barthelemy’s mansion.

Drake wanted to hate them and tell them off, just like he rehearsed every day in the shower. He couldn’t. Not with Bartie in the room who wouldn’t stop crying. He wanted to see people responsible for everything. Instead he saw a mouring father who cried over his beloved son. Even Madeleine seemed very quiet and sad. Drake felt tears on his face when he looked at Maxwell singing something to Bartie through his own tears.

“I can’t believe it,” Madeleine approached Drake handing him a drink. “I haven’t known Savannah for too long but she was the best sister I could only dream of.”

Drake looked at her as Madeleine was studying him. “Yeah, she was a great sister when you and your friends made her leave Cordonia.”

“I didn’t make her leave. She left because she felt she didn’t belong. You don’t have to believe me but I truly loved her and I am very sorry for what happened.”

“You’re right. I don’t have to believe you,” Drake narrowed his eyes and walked away, leaving Madeleine with her drink. He stopped in the doorway, looking at Bartie and feeling as if he was about to cry again.

“I see Bertrand every time I look at Bartie. It’s almost unbearable,” Barthelemy patted Drake on the back as he stood next to him.

“What do we do about him? I don’t want him to be raised by nannies, I can take him to me,” Drake said and heard the old man sighing.

“I would never agree for Bartie to be raised by someone who’s not family. That’s not what my son would want,” he said blinking a few times to stop tears from falling. “Listen, I don’t want to fight. I lost my son and I don’t want to lose my grandson as well. I think we all should take care of him, you, me and Maxwell.”

“Yeah, that acually would work,” Drake admitted.

“Week for each person? Until he’s old enough to make a decision where he’d rather stay?” Barthelemy proposed and Drake nodded.

“Sounds good to me.”

Barthelemy nodded and walked up to take his grandson from Maxwell. The little one immediately stopped crying and Drake thought that maybe Barthelemy was not as bad as he believed him to be.

~~~~

“So, what’s the news? Anything from the detective?” Drake asked entering Liam’s study, his face falling slightly at the sight of Liam’s serious expression. “What happened?”

“Madeleine and Barthelemy filed for full custody over Bartie.”

“I knew they would do it! What a piece of–” Drake gritted his teeth, stopping halfway through. He thought they had a deal. “Well then, I will file for custody as well.”

“Drake…”

“What?”

“You have little chance of winning. Barthelemy is his grandfather–”

“And I am his uncle. So?”

“… So it means he knows how to raise a child. You have no experience in it at all.”

“This guy pretended to be dead for years, I think I have pretty good chances.”

“Besides, he is married. Married couple with experience versus a bachelor? I’m not a lawyer but I can see a problem here,” Liam said calmly and Drake sat on the chair, defeated.

“They don’t deserve him. They can’t win,” Drake shook his head when Liam got an idea.

“I think I know how you can win this,” he said and Drake looked up at him, hope in his eyes. “But you won’t like it.”

“I’ll do whatever.”

“You need to get married.”

“Except for that.”

“Drake!” Liam raised his voice. “It’s for Bartie. Besides, it’s gonna be a fake marriage. I’ll annul it after you win the custody.”

“Yeah, I think you’re forgetting something _very_ important here.”

“What?”

“Umm, who am I supposed to marry? I don’t know many women and those that I do unfortulately know, belong to the court and no one will _ever_ believe I willingly married someone from nobility.” Drake turned to Liam but he was already looking at him with a wicked smile on his face.

“Oh no. You already found someone, huh?”

“Oh yes.” Liam grinned and Drake was close to slapping him.

“Who?”

“The waitress. The yelling one whom I met at your house,” Liam suggested and Drake’s face went red.

“Oh no! No, no, no, nope. Never. _Never_. No. I’d rather kidnap Bartie.”

“But Drake, she’s a perfect candidate! She’s not from nobility and you two met in your bar which makes it perfectly believeable that you two fell in love with each other.”

“Except that we didn’t. And we kinda hate each other.”

“Come on, Drake. Do it for Bartie.”

“I’m not marrying that crazy woman!”

“Of course you’re not, it’s a _fake_ marriage!”

“And how on Earth am I supposed to convince her to do it, huh? Did you think about it genius?” Drake asked but Liam had the same grin from earlier. “What again?”

“Use your charm. From what I’ve seen, it works.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about and, hey, Li, hey!” Drake tried to argue as Liam pushed him out of the study.

“Go get her and I’ll start preparing the marriage license.”

The door closed and Drake stood there wondering how on Earth everything became so complicated.

~~~~

Drake walked into the bar and spotted her immediately. He already knew the answer but he needed to at least try, for Bartie’s sake.

Riley saw him too and he could swear she groaned at the sight.

“Whiskey?” she asked when she finally approached him.

“Actually, I need to talk to you,” he said and saw she visibly tensed.

“You’re not here to fire me, are you?”

“No, no. Something totally different.”

“Ah, okay. Whatever. What do you want?” She asked as he took a deep breath.

“I want you to marry me.”


	5. FIVE

“Ummm,” Riley hesitated, “could you repeat the name of that drink again because I don’t think I heard it right?”

“I didn’t ask for a drink, I asked you to marry me,” Drake repeated slightly embarrassed he had to ask _her_ again.

“Right. Okay, bye,” she turned and started walking away. Drake grabbed her arm and lead her to a table in the back of the bar.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

“I did and I decided to ignore it. It’s clearly a joke,” she shrugged.

_Oh boy, this is embarrassing. I hate Liam._

“It’s not, listen–”

“Drake, listen,” she took his hand and he frowned. “I hate to break it to you, but I kinda hate you. I don’t know if you’re saying this because of a stupid bet you made or because you are drunk but I will never marry you, okay?”

Drake took his hand from her and rolled his eyes.

“Jeez, I’m not asking you to marry me for real! I don’t even like you. I am forced to do it.”

“You’re forced to marry me? Are you drunk? Because if you are, I am _not_ serving you any whiskey tonight.”

“I am not!” he sighed. “Let me explain, ‘kay?”

“Yeah?”

“My sister and her husband went missing some time ago and they’re cosidered to be dead.”

“I’ve heard about that and I’m really sorry. I met them once and they seemed to be great people,” Riley smiled at him reassuringly, still confused what his point was.

“Now Bartie, their son, needs someone to take care of him. I had a deal with Bartie’s grandfather that we would take care of him in turns but he just filed for a full custody. He is an awful man and I can’t let him take Bartie, especially that his new wife is a witch. So I need to win the custody case somehow,” he finished and looked at Riley. She seemed unimpressed.

“Umm, okay. Good luck! Go for it? I still don’t understand why you asked me to marry you?”

“Because it’s gonna be nearly impossible to win the case when I’m unmarried.”

“Ohh, I get it now. Ugh, that sucks,” Riley nodded and patted him on the back.

“So… what do you say?”

“Well, I am very sorry for you, like, very sorry, but no way. I’m not marrying a guy I hate, no offence. I wish you all the best but I’m not doing that.”

“This is going to be a fake marriage! Liam, the King, will annul it a few weeks later, I promise! It’s just so I can take Bartie. This is what my sister would want. Trust me, it’s far from an ideal situation for me too.”

“Listen, I’m sorry but no. Find someone else who can pretend to be your wife but that’s not gonna be me.” Riley stood up, ready to end the conversation when Drake spoke again.

“Why are you here?”

She turned to him, confused. “Hmm?”

“Why are you here, in Cordonia? I saw your CV, you’re from the U.S., you have a college degree, you had a job, what are you doing here, working in a bar in a small European country?”

“I don’t see how’s that any of your business?” Riley answered calmly but Drake could see she tensed.

“It is, it’s my bar after all,” he raised an eyebrow and she sat back down.

“Change of plans,” she shrugged, “there’s no story. It’s just a dream I had and I decided to go for it.”

“Dream? To work in a Cordonian bar?”

“Well, no, I mean, kinda…”

“Well?” He asked and she sighed.

“I always wanted to have my own place. Restaurant, cafeteria, bar, whatever. My grandma was a great cook and she left me all her handwritten receipe books. I always dreamed of opening my place and serve everything she taught me. America is full of places like this so I wanted to try Europe and… that’s kind of how I found an American bar in Cordonia. It also helps that I’m far away from my overprotective parents,” she laughed but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“So you came here to take over my bar?”

“No! No!” her eyes widened, “I just wanted to gain more experience. Find out more about Cordonian cuisine. Find places without many restaurants,” she explained as Drake remained silent. He was thinking about something and Riley was chewing her lower lip wondering if she said something that would make Drake fire her. Finally, after a minute or two, he finally spoke.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” She was confused. Was he firing her or…?

“Okay. I’ll give you the bar, it’s gonna belong to you and you can do whatever you want with it _if_ you agree to fake-marry me.”

Riley’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“You heard me. This bar for a few months of pretending we’re married.”

“You’re crazy,” she murmured. At that moment, all her dreams seemed more real than ever. She almost heard her grandma’s voice to take the chance. But was it worth it if she had to pretend to be in love with a man she hated so much? He was good looking, yes, but too annoying. Would she have to kiss him on their fake wedding ceremony? Ugh, she hoped no. Would they–

“You’re drooling,” Drake interrupted her thinking.

“I am not!” She said but instinctively wiped her mouth.

“So… what’s the verdict?”

She looked around the bar, a place that could be hers in just one word, all of her dreams coming true (after she would survive her nightmare) and she thought that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. She could always make his life so miserable that he would divorce her sooner. And if that wouldn’t work, she could always kill him, right?

“Well, Mr Walker, you got yourself a deal.”

~~~~

The wedding was scheduled for a week after their conversation. Drake said he would handle everything and they hadn’t seen each other since that day. The only people who knew that the marriage was going to be fake was Drake, Riley and Liam.

Maxwell got nearly a heart attack when he was informed about Drake’s wedding but he was happy for his friend. Olivia didn’t believe Drake was actually getting married and she tried to start a bet that Drake was only joking. Madeleine and Barthelemy were clearly not happy about it but they congratulated him and promised to come to the wedding. Drake noticed how Madeleine whispered something to Kiara, angrily gesticulating, and he was proud that he ruined her plan, whatever it was.

“It’s a bit strange, I’ve never seen you with her. In fact, it’s strange she’s not here with you today,” Madeleine smiled at him when she approached him with Kiara beside her.

“She’s not interested in being around Nobles. Besides, she’s getting ready for the wedding.”

“And, as I presume, moving, right?” she asked sweetly and Drake almost spit out his drink. He had completely forgotten they would have to live together.

“Yes, we’ll be living in my cabin. She loved it there ever since she first visited me, the day we met,” he answered not even having to lie too much.

“Hmpf,” was all Madeleine said before abruptly walking away, Kiara sending one last glare towards Drake.

He quickly pulled out his phone and messaged Riley, “ _I hope you’re all packed to move into my cabin. Don’t worry, the guest room is ready”_

The answer came a few seconds later:

“ _I’m not moving to your dumpster. I’ll stay in the bar.”_

Drake rolled his eyes as he typed, “ _Everything is clean and neatly organized just for you. Besides, that’s a part of our deal.”_

He smiled at the reply that came five seconds later. “ _I hate you.”_

~~~~

“Ugh,” Riley groaned, throwing her phone on the table. She forgot she’d have to actually live with Drake under one roof.

“Whoaa, someone’s in a bad mood! What happened?” the bartender asked but she just shook her head.

“Nothing. I need to pack my stuff, I’ll be moving out of our apartement tomorrow.”

“What? Why? Are you going back to America?”

“Worse,” she sighed, “I’m getting married.”

“Now, whaaat?!” her friend asked and she realized she never really told him anything.

“Yeah, to Drake. I’m sorry I forgot to mention it to–”

“Now HOLD UP. The last time we talked about him you hated him. I knew you were lying! I knew you liked him! I saw it in your eyes, I knew it!”

“Umm, yeah. I was totally lying,” _I was totally not lying. I hate Drake even more now._

“Good catch, R! I’m sure your wedding day will be beautiful and your wedding night even better,” he winked at her and she felt sick.

“Please stop, I’m going to throw up.”

“No way!!!”

“What?” She was confused now.

“Now I get it! The wedding so soon, you feeling sick… You’re pregnant, oh my gosh!!!”

“No, please, no!!! I am not, listen–” her eyes widened in horror as her friend hugged her.

“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone! I’m so happy for you, girl! I’ll help you with moving out, you probably shouldn’t be carrying these heavy boxes by yourself now.”

“Seriously, it’s not like that, I–”

“Josh!!!” The bartender called out seeing the manager walking out of his office. “Riley is getting married! And she has a little bun in the oven,” he added quietly as the manager’s eyes went wide.

“I was aware of your marriage to Drake but I had no idea you two were already expecting. My sincere congratulations, to both of you.”

“Wait, no, I am not pregnant!”

“It’s okay, you can still work here until you don’t feel like it anymore,” Josh patted her on the back and left the bar before Riley could say anything else.

“Why does no one believe me?” she asked but her friend was already behind the bar making a drink. A few minutes later she got a message from Drake.

“ _Why is your manager congratulating me on having a baby? Am I missing something?_ ”

She sighed as she typed, “ _It’s a long story._ ”

“ _Anyway. The wedding’s tomorrow at 6. Don’t be late._ ”

She sighed again as she shoved her phone back to the bag. She now wasn’t sure if she just made the biggest mistake of her life or not but it was too late to back out now.

The die was cast.


	6. SIX

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in matrimony.”

Riley looked at Liam who was reciting the formula as if he was doing it every day. She then looked at her hands, intertwined with Drake’s and she sighed. Never in a million years would she ever expect her summer trip would end that way. She felt Madeleine and Barthelemy’s eyes on her and she straightened herself trying to look natural. Drake’s friend, Maxwell, whom she just met, was weeping from behind Drake and she quickly looked at the clock to see how long she’d have to be there.

“Drake, do you take this woman to be your wife, to live together in matrimony, to love her, to honor her, to comfort her, and to keep her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?” Liam asked, making Riley come back to reality.

“I do,” she heard Drake saying and her heart skipped a beat. Even if it was all fake, hearing these words made her a bit emotional.

“Riley, do you take this man to be your husband, to live together in matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?” He asked and both Liam and Drake looked at her expectantly.

“Sure. I mean, I do.”

She could hear Drake’s sighing with relief and she even caught a glimpse of Liam’s smile at her words. The ceremony went on and before she could register anything, she was wearing an ugly wedding band that matched Drake’s and was pronounced Mrs Walker.

 _Nightmare_.

Not many people were invited, just a couple of people from Drake’s life and Riley’s friend and manager. The reception took place in the palace and even though Riley wasn’t happy about getting married, she was very impressed with being in a real palace.

“So… You didn’t even invite your parents, huh?” Riley asked Drake when they were dancing, after being told by Liam that they absolutely needed to do the first dance in order for the wedding to be believeable.

“My father’s dead and my mom has depression and she didn’t want to come. Besides it’s a fake wedding,” he shrugged and Riley felt guilty for asking. “You didn’t invite yours either.”

“It’s a fake wedding,” she repeated. “I don’t even want to think what my parents would do if they found out I got married. I’d rather keep quiet. And I’m sorry, you know, about your parents.”

“S’okay.”

“Woooo! Twirl her!” they heard Maxwell shouting and Drake rolled his eyes.

“They’re not even dancing. They are standing still and pretending they’re doing something!” Madeleine commented and this time it was Riley who rolled her eyes.

“It’s time for a toast anyway. Drake would you like to say something?” Liam asked trying to get everyone’s attention off the awkward dance Drake and Riley were performing.

“No, I’m not good with words, just happy to be married to this amazing lady.”

“Riley?”

“I would actually want to say something,” she said and Drake’s eyes widened in horror. _Oh boy._

Liam gave her a smile as she stood up and looked at Drake. “Drake, when I first met you, I never thought we’d end up married.” _I thought you’d end up seriously injured after I finally push you off the cliff._ “But here we are, celebrating our love,” _and my new restaurant,_ “and I just wanted to say that I love you, despite the fact that you snore and use butter as a body lotion,” she finished as everyone chuckled. Drake looked at her narrowing her eyes but she just smiled at him and leaned in, whispering, “Payback.”

“Thank you, my dear wife,” Drake stood up suddenly, “I love you too, even when you don’t use your deodorant because you prefer to be natural.” He smiled back at her and she stood up again.

“Aww! You’re so sweet! You’re lucky I love you because otherwise I’d totally tell everyone about your obsession with braiding your armpit hair.”

“This is the best wedding ever,” Olivia whispered to Liam as he spit out his drink.

“Oh? And I would totally tell everyone about–”

“Guys! I think it’s enough about your _love_ to each other,” Liam cut in, looking at both Drake and Riley.

“Aww, man! I thought I’d learn a little bit more about my buddy, Drake! I had no idea you liked braiding your hair! Hey, no judgement here!” Maxwell patted his friend on the back as Drake glared at Riley. It was only their wedding day and he already regretted his decision.

_I should’ve just kidnapped Bartie._

~~~~

“Okay, here is your marriage certificate and I’ve already filed for custody for you,” Liam handed his friend a few documents as the three of them stood in front of Drake’s cabin, after the wedding.

“How long do we have to pretend for?” Riley asked not wanting Liam to leave her alone with Drake.

“I’d say at least a month after Drake gets full custody. It’d be more believeable.”

“Okay,” she sighed hoping Drake would win the custody as soon as possible.

“Anyway, I gotta go, enjoy your first day as a married couple and have a great wedding night!” Liam said before quickly leaving the two of them alone and getting into his car.

“Do I really have to live in one house with you?”

“Unfortunately yes. But at least we don’t have to share a room,” Drake opened the door and let her in.

“Ugh, I already forgot how much I hate this place.”

“Well, you’d better get to used it. It’s gonna be your home for the next few weeks,” Drake said and sat down on the couch, still in his suit, and turned on the TV.

“Umm? Hello? What am I supposed to do now?”

“The guest room is on the left. The rest you’ve seen. Do whatever you want. Mi casa es su casa, _wifey_.”

~~~~

Two weeks passed (the worst two weeks of Riley’s life according to Riley) and the day of the hearing finally came. They both went to the court and met there with Liam. Madeleine and Bartholemy were already there with their lawyer and Bartie.

“Are you ready?” Liam asked and Drake nodded.

“I just hope he wins so I can finally be free,” Riley murmured and Liam chuckled.

“Is living with Drake that bad?”

“Bearable when I pretend he doesn’t exist–”

“Which is pretty much every single day,” Drake chipped in. “Living with _her_ is a nightmare. She thinks she’s funny when she switches my shaving cream with cream cheese.”

“Me? A nightmare? Who put a fake spider on my bed? I hate spiders!”

“And who took all my towels and clothes and locked the door so I couldn’t get inside after my swim in the lake?”

“And who–”

“Guys,” Liam shook his head, “stop because my stomach hurts from laughing. I wish I could see this myself.”

“You can even take her to live with you, if you want to,” Drake said and Riley stuck out her tongue at him.

“Actually, Drake, I wanted to tell you something. I got news from the private investigator I hired. He was able to track down Betrand and Savannah before they disappeared. They seemed to be last seen nearby the duchy of Karlington, in London…” Liam started.

“That son of a–”

“I don’t understand, why is that a clue?” Riley asked as Drake tried to take deep breaths to calm himself down.

“Duchy of Karlington is owned by Godfrey, who is Madeleine’s father…” Liam explained.

“Oh… I see.”

“But Drake, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It could be a coincidence, there’s no proof or–”

“This is the proof I need,” Drake said before walking towards Madeleine and Barthelemy.

“Drake!” Liam tried to stop him but it was too late.

“How DARE you try to take Bartie when it was you who killed his parents? Don’t you have _any_ sort of conscience?!”

“Excuse me?” Madeleine asked as Barthelemy protectively put an arm around her waist.

“You killed Betrand and Savannah! We have evidence!”

“Don’t you dare speak to my wife in such manner! She didn’t kill anyone, she cared for both Betrand and Savannah!” Barthelemy raised his voice and Riley had to take Drake’s hand before he could punch the old man.

“You bunch of liars! The detective said the last place they were seen was in Karlington, now that sounds familiar, doesn’t it Madeleine? And now you’re trying to steal Bartie, too? For what? To kill him as well?”

“Watch your mouth!” Barthelemy said, “My wife did not do anything wrong. She was so concerned when we heard the news that she even hired a detective to learn more about their disappearance. She was worried sick and you’re saying she killed them? You’re disgusting!”

“Listen, Drake, I don’t know what they were doing there, maybe Betrand had something to do there but I wouldn’t hurt them! I loved Savannah like my own sister and Betrand was very dear to me,” Madeleine smiled sadly and Riley had to admit that she sounded sincere. Or she was a good actress.

“I don’t believe you. I’ll find the evidence and you’ll rot in jail!” Drake said before Liam dragged him away.

“Are you okay, dear?” Barthelemy asked as Madeleine turned to him.

“Yes, yes. A bit shocked Drake would think that but okay. I need to fix my make up, I think. I’ll be right back,” she gave him a smile and went to the restroom. After making sure she was alone, she pulled out her phone. She dialed a number to her detective and waited for him to pick up.

“Drake knows Betrand and Savannah were in Karlington, Liam’s private investigator found something. You assured me there was absolutely no way anyone would ever find out about it!”

“Hey, relax. I examined the area and asked people. Even if they somehow found out about them being here, no one saw them going inside or even close. The cameras were all turned off that night. Don’t worry.”

“You know, the more you talk, the less assured I am. Drake knows. He’s not gonna stop digging.” Madeleine was slowly losing patience.

“What do you want me to do?” the man finally asked.

“Fix. It.”


	7. SEVEN

“Drake… You okay?” Riley asked him as they were driving back to the house. Bartie was asleep in his seat with Riley next to him and she decided to start a conversation after twenty minutes of driving in silence.

“I really don’t want to talk about it right now,” he said, his eyes focused on the road. Riley sighed.

“I get it but you gotta talk. You can’t just bottle everything up. Talk to me. We didn’t lose.”

“We also didn’t win,” he hissed.

Joint custody.

That was the verdict. Neither him, nor Madeleine and Barthelemy were happy with it. Since Bartie spent the last few weeks with Madeleine and Barthelemy, the judge let Drake have Bartie for at least two weeks. Then, Bartie would spend a week in one house and a week in the other.

“But it’s still better than losing. And we have Bartie now.”

“I will appeal. I will not let these murderers have Barite. Not now that I know what they did to Savannah and Betrand.”

“Maybe they really don’t have anything to do with it? Maybe it really was just a coincidence? Maybe–”

“Listen,” Drake interrupted her as he pulled over. “I understand that you’re trying to be a supportive _fake_ wife now, but you know absolutely _nothing_ about these people. Nothing. And I’d appreciate it if you stopped talking to me now,” he said and started the car again. Riley swallowed hard as she looked down at Bartie. They didn’t speak again the whole way back.

~~~~

“I already sent a few guards and the police to search Karlington. I didn’t tell anyone about it so no one is expecting them there.”

Drake nodded as he listened to Liam telling him about the progress he made on the investigation.

“Everyone is expecting them ever since Drake announced that Liam had a private investigator and that he thinks Madeleine is responsible for what happened to Savannah and Bertrand,” Riley added and met with Drake’s narrowed eyes.

“No one asked for your two cents.”

“Well, maybe you should’ve thought first about it! Now they know you know, and if they really are involved, they’ll try to hide anything suspicious.”

“And who–”

“Guys!!!” Liam cut in, “stop it. Riley is right. You shouldn’t have told them what we know. But we can still try. They know we have no evidence so maybe they’ll brush it off.”

Drake glared at Riley and she rolled her eyes. Ever since the hearing, he was more annoying than ever.

“Can you show the recording once again?” Drake asked, turning away from Riley. He knew she was right and it annoyed him more than anything.

Liam played the recording once again, the last moments of Savannah and Betrand going to the duchy. They were filmed with the camera that was placed on the gate and Drake saw how his sister and his brother-in-law spoke something to the intercom and went through the gate. The camera from the other side of the gate however, never registered any trace of them, as if they magically disappeared when going through the gate.

Drake took in his sister’s smile, her dress that their mother gave her for Christmas. He wished he could see her again, he wished he had more time with her. He blinked a few times and felt someone wrapping their hands around his shoulders. He didn’t even have to look up. Her lemongrass perfume gave it all away.

~~~~

Parenting and solving a mystery at the same time was not as easy as it would seem. Both Riley and Drake realized that when Bartie wouldn’t stop crying for the second hour.

“Hey, buddy, don’t cry when you’re with me. Bro code, remember?” Drake tried to talk to Bartie but it only make him cry even more.

“I told you he is hungry,” Riley said as she brought a plate with a little bit of mashed boiled carrots. “Open your mouth, honey!” she tried to feed him but Bartie shook his head and pushed Riley’s hand in Drake’s direction, causing her to smash the carrots onto his face.

“Tha–” Drake started but forgot what he was about to say when Bartie started laughing all of the sudden.

“Ohh, you like that, don’t you?” Riley smiled at him as she took a spoonful of carrots and threw it on Drake’s face.

“Bhahaha,” Bartie was laughing as Drake tried to wipe the carrots from his eyes.

“I don’t think that’s what made him–” He tried again but before he could finish, another portion of carrots ended up on his face. “Okay. That’s how you want to play?”

Drake took a plate from her hands and threw a bit of puree on Riley’s face causing Bartie to laugh so much, he almost fell down.

Riley took a bit of carrots from the plate in her hands and smashed it against his face as he was trying to smash some of it on hers. She quickly took the plate back and wiped the rest of the meal in Drake’s face. Now it was Bartie and Riley laughing as Drake tried to think of revenge.

“You see, I’m a gentleman and I will gladly share the food with my beloved wife,” he said and before Riley realized what he was doing, he hugged her tighly, his head snuggling against her neck and shirt, staining everything with carrots.

“Nooo! Stop it, I like this T-shirt!” she yelled through laughter but Drake didn’t care as he pinned her to the floor.

“Weehee!” Bartie was cheering and Riley and Drake both realized what they just did. Drake quickly stood up and and helped Riley up.

“I’m gonna… take a shower,” he said before leaving Riley alone with Bartie. He looked at her curiously and she smiled at him as she got an idea.

“Wanna play a little prank on your uncle?” she asked and Bartie eagerly nodded as if he understood. She took him from the chair and snuck up to the bathroom. She knew Drake never bothered to buy a lock on the door since he lived alone so she quietly opened the door and took all his towels and clothes. She quickly ran to his room and locked it, as it was the only room that actually had the lock (as Riley suspected, so Drake could drink his beloved whiskey in peace), hiding every blanket and piece of clothing she could find.

_I’m doing this for Bartie’s entertainment only. I don’t want to see his naked body so I’m suffering just for this kid._

She looked at Bartie’s amused face as if she was trying to convice him it was all for him.

It didn’t take long before he heard Drake’s screaming from the bathroom, “RILEY!!!”

~~~~

_Step one, find something to cover myself._

_Step two, make Riley pay._

Drake gritted his teeth as he got out of the shower and opened the bathroom door a little. The hall seemed to be clear so he took a few steps and quickly ran to his room. He tried to open the door but it was locked.

“Riley!!! I swear you’re gonna pay for this!”

He looked around but he couldn’t find anything to cover himself. He also couldn’t find his fake wife and his nephew, guessing they were hiding from him.

He went to the living room but all the blankets were gone, even the paper rolls disappeared from the kitchen.

He heard a quiet knock on the door and could swear he also heard some whispers. He rolled his eyes and walked up to open the door, assuming it was Riley with Bartie since they weren’t in the house.

“Yeah, you got me, now give me back my–” he stopped in the middle of the sentence as he realized the person standing in front of him was not Riley but his mother, Bianca.

“Oh… I… I see I interrupted something,” she said while covering her eyes. Drake quickly took a vase from the shelf and covered himself, or at least a part of himself, mentally cursing Riley. He let his mother in and as he did that, Riley appeared with Bartie on her hip. He narrowed her eyes as she tried to suppress the laughter.

“Ah, hello, my dear! You must be my son’s wife, Riley! Nice to meet you,” Bianca extended her hand and Riley shook it.

“Hi! Drake told me so much about you!” It was a lie but Riley tried to be polite.

“What are you doing here, mom?” Drake asked, still holding a vase and sending a death stare to Riley. She walked up to him and put a key to his room into the vase, sending a quick and apologetic look.

“I felt really bad for missing your wedding. I lost one child already and I don’t want to lose another one,” her voice broke slightly.

“I’m sorry, mom. We all miss her and–”

“Perhaps, go and get dressed first and then we’ll talk. I have so many questions! I never thought my little boy would get married! You must be a very special lady to steal my son’s heart!” Bianca smiled at Riley and she looked away. She was embarrassed and felt a bit guilty lying to Drake’s mother. She smiled politely at the older woman and turned her attention to Drake heading to his bedroom. She really didn’t want to look but she couldn’t help it. He looked good. Better than good. He might be an asshole but oh boy, what an ass it was! And as Drake disappeared in his room, she realized Bianca was talking to her this whole time and instead of listening… she was thinking about her son’s butt.

_Way to go, Riley._

~~~~

After the dinner and a few fake stories about how much Drake and Riley loved each other, it was already time to go to sleep.

“So, Mom, where are you staying? I’ll drive you,” Drake offerend and Bianca looked at him sheepishly.

“I actually thought I’d stay here with you. I missed you so much and I could also look after Bartie. You two just got married, I’ll take care of my grandson so you two can enjoy each other’s company,” she winked at Riley.

“I would love to have you here but we don’t have a spare room,” Drake said and Bianca frowned.

“Of course you do!” she motioned a room where Riley was staying, “This one right here is where I always stayed when I visited you. You and Riley sleep in the same room with Bartie and this one’s free. I’ll take Bartie for the nights so you two can, ahem, spend the night without any distractions.”

Riley’s eyes widened as she realized that if Bianca was to stay in the cabin, she would have to share a room with Drake. She looked at him and he must have realized the same as his eyes were windened as well.

“Mom, I think you should have better conditions that we can offer you. I’ll take you to the hotel or the palace, I’m sure Liam will be fine with it.”

“Nonsense, my dear, I’ll stay with you. I can cook for you, take care of Bartie so that you two can enjoy yourself,” she smiled at them before going to collect her bags. Drake sighed as he went to the guest room and quickly took all Riley’s things and brought them over to his bedroom. He loved his mother but he didn’t want her to know it was a fake marriage. She wouldn’t understand and he didn’t want to cause her more stress.

When Bianca was already in her new room, and Bartie was there with her, Riley stood in the middle of Drake’s bedroom with disgust on her face.

“Drake,” she hissed when he closed the door, “I’m not gonna sleep with you!”

He raised his eyebrow and chuckled, “I’m not gonna insist.”

“Where am I supposed to sleep then?”

“The floor is pretty comfy, I would say,” Drake threw two pillows on the floor and handed her a blanket. “Goodnight!” He said as he climbed on the bed.

“ _I_ will be sleeping on the floor? Shouldn’t it be you?”

“Nope. My house, my rules. Besides, you took all my clothes, you deserve to sleep on the floor,” he murmured sleepily.

“In your dreams!” Riley said before throwing all the pillows back on the bed and climbing there as well.

“What are you doing?” Drake asked as he saw Riley laying a blanket between the two of them.

“Dividing the bed. You’re free to sleep on the floor, by the way,” she said before turning away from him and covering herself with the comforter. Drake looked in her direction for a while before turning away from her as well and closing his eyes.

That was slowly getting out of hand and he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. Hearning Riley’s slow and steady breaths, he smiled to himself as he finally drifted off.


	8. EIGHT

“Mmm” Riley moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. It took her a moment to adjust to the bright room and to realize she wasn’t in her regular room.

_Drake’s mom. Right._

She wanted to turn to see if Drake had already woken up but she couldn’t as she saw his arms wrapped around her waist so tightly she could barely breathe. Or maybe it was Drake’s proximity that made it so hard to breathe. Drake’s face was buried in her neck and covered in her hair and she tried to stay as still as possible.

Normally, she would push him away the second she’d realize how close they were but for some reason she quite enjoyed them being so close, so intimate. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine it was her real life, entangled in bed with the love of her life. The reality was a bit different and she blushed at the thought that Mr Perfect Butt was cuddling her.

_Don’t think about his butt, don’t think about his butt._

Riley felt that Drake started to stir and she closed her eyes immediately, pretending to be still asleep as if she never noticed the position they were in. She felt his breath on her neck and she knew he woke up. She pretended to be waking up too and she opened her eyes meeting with Drake’s already looking at her.

“Ewww, what are you doing,” she pushed him away as she jumped out of the bed. “I knew you should’ve just slept on the floor, ugh,” she added as she quickly left the bedroom.

~~~~

“Good morning, my love birds!” Bianca entered the kitchen with Bartie in her arms. Drake smiled sleepily at her and Riley took Bartie from her fake mother-in-love.

“I hope you had a good night.”

“Moooom,” Drake rolled his eyes.

“What? You just got married, you deserve to have some good nights. I can take Bartie somewhere for the night if it’s necessary,” she winked and Drake facepalmed as Riley blushed.

“Thank you, Mrs Walker, but we love Bartie and we want to spend as much time with him as possible,” Riley answered politely.

“That’s understandable. And please, call me Bianca.”

Drake opened his mouth to comment this somehow but someone knocked on the door and he stood up to open it, Riley following suit.

“Yes?” He asked the woman standing in the doorway, smiling at him.

“Drake and Riley Walker?” she asked as both of them nodded. “Someone filed a complaint about the legitimacy of your marriage. I’m bringing you the copy of the document along with the letter to come to the embassy for the interview.”

“Embassy? Interview?” Drake asked as he opened the letter and seeing the name of the person responsible for it,” Madeleine.”

“We need to establish whether your marriage is in fact real, as the claim suggests it is fake, serving only to get full custody and grant Mrs Walker a Cordonian citizenship.”

“Me…? What?!” Riley’s eyes widened and Drake put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

“Why did Madeleine even sent it? She was at the wedding!”

“Mrs Beaumont simply voiced her concerns about the legitimacy of your marriage, there will be a few question you two will be asked and that’s all. Nothing to be worried about. Unless, the marriage is indeed fake.”

“Concerns about our marriage? Can I voice my concerns about Madeleine’s sanity then?” Drake asked but before the woman could answer Riley cut in.

“This is ridiculous. And what if that stupid interview proved it was a fake marriage?”

“Then it’d be annuled immediately, you would be sent to America and Drake would most likely lose the custody. But as I said,” she smiled at them, “nothing to be worried about. It’s just a formality. See you tomorrow!”

“Tomorrow?!” Riley and Drake asked at the same time but the woman already started walking away. They looked at each other, Riley full of worry and Drake full of anger.

“Mom? Can you actually take Bartie for the night? Riley and I want to have tonight for ourselves.”

~~~~

“Okay, let’s do this.”

“Why did you bring alcohol?” Riley asked curiously as Drake put two glasses and a bottle of whiskey on the floor.

“I really can’t do that sober,” he shook his head and poured the drink into two glasses. Riley took one and they both drank it, the liquid burning their throats.

“Okay, I found a few lists of possible questions on the internet, are you ready?” He asked and Riley nodded. How bad could it be?

“First. Where did you meet?”

“Easy. In your bar,” Riley answered taking a swig. _This is going to be easy._

“Right. When did your relationship turn romantic?”

“Umm, never?”

Drake narrowed his eyes.

“Hmm, maybe after I first visited you at home and met Bartie? I could say I saw the way you take care of him and I fell in love and then it quickly became a romantic relationship?”

“I like that,” Drake nodded. “Okay, next. Why did you decide to have a short engagement?”

“Because we really wanted to start our life together and also because we wanted to make a family for Bartie.”

“Good, I’m impressed!” Drake high-fived Riley. “Moving on, there’s a set of questions about our habits. Ready?”

“Bring it on!” Riley said as she took another swig of her drink.

“Who gets up first? At what time? How many alarm clocks do you set in the morning? Who cleans the house? Who makes breakfast? Who takes care of paying the bills? Does your spouse take any regular medications?”

“Whoaa. Okay. You get up first to go for a run, unless Bartie starts crying, then we both wake up at the same time. You never set any alarm clocks. I have to clean the house because you’re messy. We both make breakfast for ourselves and you pay bills since it’s your house. And I haven’t seen you taking any meds. How did I do?”

“You did great,” Drake admitted as he took a few swigs of whiskey. “You set as many alarms as possible but after like ten alarms you turn off your phone because they annoy you. You take some allergy pills, right?”

“Yes! I’m alergic to mess and since your place is so messy I have to take those,” she answered sweetly and he rolled his eyes.

“It’s not _that_ bad.”

“Whatever. I’m doing this for my restaurant. Next question.”

“What is your spouse’s favorite/least favorite food?”

“Everything with meat is favorite. Anything without meat is your least favorite.”

“Very funny. I like simple things so anything extravagant is not my favorite. Now, you’re a great cook so I would say you love everything.”

“My favorite dish is pasta à la Nana. It was invented by me and my grandma when I was about five years old. It reminds me of her,” Riley said, her voice breaking slightly.

“I’ve never seen you making it,” Drake noticed and Riley shrugged.

“I haven’t been able to make ever since she died. We always did it together. The secret is that you need two people to make it and I just… I couldn’t.” She quickly wiped a tear from her eyes and Drake wordlessly pulled her close.

“Let’s… finish with these questions,” she whispered and Drake nodded.

“Who sleeps on each side of the bed?” he asked and she looked at him confused.

“What, these are the questions!”

“Well, when we fell asleep I was on the right side and you on the left side but when I woke up we both somehow were on the right side.”

“I think that’s a sufficent answer. Okay, next, when was your wife’s last menstrual period? Wait, what?” He read it again. “How am I supposed to know that?!”

“Just say two weeks ago and let’s move on,” she chuckled. Normally she would be embarrassed to talk about such topics with someone who was neither her sister nor her close friend but all that alcohol was making her a bit more confident.

“When did you last have intimate relations?”

“This is what they ask about?” Riley raised her eyebrow as Drake tried to hide his red cheeks.

“Apparently they’re very nosy.”

“Let’s just say it was tonight. Bianca can even confirmed she took Bartie out for the night so it’s more believeable.”

“Good thinking, Mrs _Walker_ ,” Drake smiled as he clinked glasses with her. “Next is, how many sexual partners did you have?”

“What? This is ridiculous, they can’t ask that!” Riley stood up, ready to end this rehearsal. This was a stupid idea anyway.

“I didn’t make it up, it’s one of the sample questions, look!” Drake showed his phone to Riley but she only rolled her eyes.

“It’s stupid.”

“It is but need to be prepared. So… what is your number?”

“What is yours?” Riley asked crossing her arms. She hated it already.

“Just seven,” he shrugged, “nothing too exciting.”

“Seven?” her eyes widened. “Not that I care. I’m going to sleep, I’m tired.”

“Hey, we haven’t finished yet!”

“Well, I’m finished.”

“Riley,” Drake stook up and took her hand, “I told you my number, it’s only fair if you tell me yours. How many guys did you sleep with?”

She rolled her eyes, “Zero. Happy now?”

“But I thought…” Drake’s eyes widened. “With you looking like this, I just–”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Everyone is so fixated on–”

“I’m not everyone,” Drake cut in and she looked at him. “And I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

“If you had parents like mine, you’d understand. All I had time for was studying so that my parents were proud of me. My older sister is their favorite and I always tried to be more like her. Jeez, why am I even telling you this?”

“If they couldn’t see how great you are then it’s their loss,” Drake said but she didn’t reply. After a few minutes of complete silence, Drake finally asked, “Can we answer the rest of the questions?”

~~~~

The interview was scheduled early next morning and both Riley and Drake were very tired as they were practicing most of the night. It all was worth it though, because they covered all the questions the interviewer asked them. Even the woman who brought them documents seemed to be happy with their responses.

When they left the office, they were so relived and tired that they hugged each other without even realizing what they were doing.

Bianca was waiting with Bartie and started cheering when Drake showed her a thumb up.

“You should celebrate! Now everyone knows your marriage is real and you love each other.”

“Yeah.”

“Show some enthusiasm, son! Kiss your wife!”

“It’s okay, we’re not really fans of PDA,” Riley tried to argue with Bianca but the woman only shook her head.

“It’s not PDA, it’s just a kiss!”

“Fine, Mom!” Drake rolled his eyes and kissed Riley’s cheek quickly.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I kiss Bartie with more love than you did Riley.”

“Mom!”

“It’s okay,” Riley grabbed Drake’s hand and he looked at her, frowning. She nodded slighly and he sighed but leaned down to kiss her.

At first, it was a very careful kiss, more like a quick peck on the lips but soon he felt Riley deepening the kiss a little and he followed suit, somehow not being able to stop. He put one of his arms on Riley’s back and the other was entangled in her hair. He heard a soft moan from Riley’s lips and it was only then that he realized what they were doing, in front of his mother. Slowly, he pulled away and looked down, avoiding his mother’s eyes.

“Yes, that’s more like it,” they heard Bianca and Drake could swear he heard her smiling.

Drake shook his head as his phone started ringing and he felt very thankful for that distraction.

“Liam? What’s happening?”

“I sent the guards back to Cordonia. They didn’t find anything in Karlington. Everything is clear. They checked every single room, dungeons, even secret passages. The gardens were checked too. And all the houses nearby. Nothing. I’m sorry.”

“It’s… okay. Thank you anyway, for doing this,” Drake sighed. He was losing hope with each day.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you some good news. I decided to leave one guard there, just in case.”

“Thank you, Liam. Really.”

“I’ll call you later and we’ll talk, okay?” Liam asked and after hearing ‘okay’ from the other side, he hung up.

He started sorting out some documents when he heard a knock on the door.

“Yes?”

“King Liam,” Madeleine bowed and Liam stood up, surprised to see her there.

“Madeleine? What are you doing here?”

“Is that a way to greet your ex fiancee?” She smiled as she waved a big envelope before Liam’s eyes.

“What are you doing here, Madeleine?” Liam repeated, his eyes trained on the woman.

“I brought new evidence. About Savannah and Bertrand. My private investigator just sent this and…” she bit her lips as if considering something, “I think you should see it.”


	9. NINE

“So what do you think?”

“Madeleine gave it to you?” Drake asked, his eyes never leaving the screen of Liam’s computer.

“Yes. She said her detective found it and she thought I should show it to you,” Liam explained and Drake nodded.

As soon as Liam called again, he and Riley ran to the palace leaving Bianca with Bartie at home. When they reached Liam’s office, he showed them a recording that Madeleine brought as a new piece of evidence. They watched it at least ten times and Riley didn’t let go of Drake’s hand even for a second.

The video wasn’t long. It was only a few seconds of Savannah and Betrand clearly leaving Karlington, which excluded the possibility of them disappearing in the duchy. Comparing the time on two recordings, one from their arrival and one from their departure, it became clear they spent there only an hour.

“So this one video convinced the police that no one from Karlington is involved?” Drake asked quietly and Riley squeezed his hand.

“So it seems,” Liam sighed. “The recording has been found and it is proved they did leave Karlington after all.”

“How did Madeleine even get it?”

“She said her private investigator searched all the security tapes and found it.”

“And the police couldn’t find it before?” Riley asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Apparently not. But also because the recording was in the wrong file, someone put it under a different date by accident.”

“Right… Accident.”

“Drake… I know it looks bad and I agree something is wrong but maybe we’re looking in the wrong place. They left the duchy at some point. We have the recordings from that day and until the day we were informed they were missing. They haven’t been seen entering the estate ever again.”

“Something’s off,” Riley noticed nodding at the video.

“Clearly. Cordonian police is useless,” Drake rolled his eyes.

“No, I mean on the video. I don’t know, something gives off bad vibes.”

“Yeah, I feel it too. Feels much weirder than the first video,” Liam agreed.

“Me too but I don’t know what exactly. Both Sav and Betrand look normal, she’s wearing the same dress and look, Betrand is laughing at something she said,” Drake pointed the video as they were watching it for the eleventh time.

“Maybe we’re just looking too much into it. I have a copy of it, just in case. Get some rest now, I know you had a long night. And congratulations on passing the interview!” Liam smiled. “I’m so happy you started warming up to each other.”

“Warming up?” Drake asked as Riley finally let go of his hand.

“As if!”

“If you say so,” Liam smirked, “Well then, you’re free to go home, I’m sure you’ll want to… celebrate.”

Drake rolled his eyes as Riley leaned towards him. “If he wasn’t a King, I’d punch him right now,” she whispered.

“If he wasn’t my best friend I’d punch him too,” Drake answered and the two left the office, giggling.

~~~~

“His face when he said we should celebrate!” Riley laughed, taking a sip of the hot chocolate she made for her and Drake. They were seated on the couch, watching a movie after Bartie fell asleep and so did Bianca.

“Yeah, as if he thought we like each other!” Drake agreed and they both bursted into laughter.

“Was he always so naive?”

“Always. He always believes in people’s best intentions and everyone always uses that,” Drake finished his chocolate and took Riley’s empty mug to wash it.

“Just like my sister. She’s so pure it’s annoying. And she’s our parents’ favorite so that’s even more annoying.”

“You two have good relations?”

“The best. I wish I could hate her because she’s so perfect but she’s too likeable and I can’t. Besides, it’s not her fault our parents prefer her. She is their first child after all,” Riley shrugged.

“What’s the deal with your parents? Why are they so…” _dang wrong_ “unfair?”

“I don’t know. They had my sister very late, after years of trying. I was an accident that happened a year later.” Riley tried to joke but the slight waver in her voice suggested otherwise. “She is naturally very smart, always had amazing grades. My parents invested in her education a lot and she was always their pride. I was working really hard to get any praise but they kept on comparing me to her and I lost interest. After many years of trying to get my parents’ approval I just decided they don’t care so why should I? So I’m here, cooking, not yet I mean, but at least I’m not working in a bank or something.”

“Wow. I know you should always respect your elders but I hate them.”

“Thanks.”

“Want some whiskey?” Drake offered and Riley laughed.

“No, I’m good.”

“Listen, I’m the worst with words but your parents suck and they are not worthy of your time. You deserve people who will love you without you having to prove your worth, ‘kay?”

“Okay. Wow, Drake, that was beautiful.”

“I blame it on my lack of sleep,” he added and Riley smiled mischievously.

“What?” He asked confused.

“Last in the bedroom sleeps on the floor!” she said and took off running, leaving Drake behind.

~~~~

Despite Drake coming second in the bedroom, no one slept on the floor. Drake argued it was his house and Riley claimed she was showing him mercy by letting him sleep next to her. Exhausted, they slept through ten of Riley’s alarms. They didn’t even hear Bianca coming to their room to ask them to come for breakfast and they missed the big smile on her face when she saw them cuddled together.

When Riley’s eleventh alarm went off, Drake reached his hand to grab her phone on her nightstand still not opening his eyes. Riley stirred underneath him and opened her eyes, not fully registering what was happening.

“Mhmm, good morning,” she murmured and Drake sleepily leaned down and kissed her, as if it was the most natural thing to do. She retured the kiss, realizing what was happening only a few seconds later. She pushed him away, with a little too much force and he rolled out of the bed, landing on his butt.

“Ow, that hurt,” he stood, massaging his hurting area.

“You started it,” Riley answered, chuckling.

“Right. I’ll make us some breakfast.”

When he left the room, Riley closed her eyes for a moment, going back to the sensation of Drake’s lips on her and she smiled.

_It shouldn’t be so nice. Why was it so nice?_

~~~~

Drake was frying some bacon when he heard someone insistently knocking on the door. He turned off the heat and walked up to the door to open them. There was a tall, middle-aged man standing with two women by his side. The man looked angry and he was wondering if it was someone Madeleine had sent.

“Drake Walker?” The man asked and Drake nodded.

“Yes and who are yo–” Didn’t manage to finish as the man punched him right in the face and for the second time in that day, Drake landed on his butt.

“Drake? What is–” Riley asked, entering the hall and her eyes widened at the sight of Drake lying on the floor. She looked at the man standing in front of her and two women behind him and she swallowed hard.

“Dad?”


	10. TEN

“Dad, you can’t just punch people like that,” Riley gave Drake a pack of frozen spinach and he held it near his eye. Riley’s father sat on the other side of the room and studied him warily.

“I can do what I want, that man here brainwashed you!”

“Dad! He didn’t brainwash me, what are you talking about?”

“Trent, honey, maybe we should–” a woman sitting next to him, Riley’s mother as Drake guessed, tried to calm her husband down but he didn’t let her finish.

“I spent years and years raising you. Giving you food, money, clothes, home. And you get married without even telling us about it? Your _husband_ didn’t even care to follow our traditions! He never asked me for your hand. None of you contacted me. I did not approve of this marriage and I do not approve of it now.”

“But Daddy,” another woman tried to cut in and Drake thought it must have been Riley’s sister. She looked more like their father while Riley looked more like her mother. They both had dark hair but Riley’s was long and with red ombre while her sister’s were much shorter and almost black. The ladies had also different eye colors, Riley’s bright blue ones contrasted with her sister’s brown eyes.

“Shush. I’m speaking,” the man scolded his daughter and Drake knew he already hated the guy. He hated him from Riley’s stories but after meeting him in person, he hated him even more. “When you said you wanted to go to Europe I thought you wanted to do something valuable, learn something, make money. But instead, you marry the first man you meet. You’re such a disappoitment, Riley. You always were. How silly I was to believe maybe you’d change.”

“Dad!” The sister stood up but one look from her father silenced her for good. Drake looked at Riley; her eyes were fixed on the floor, not willing to make any eye contact.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Drake stood up to face Trent. “I will not let you speak to her like that. This is my home and if you have a problem with us being married you can complain somewhere else. She’s my wife now and you’re not allowed to insult us. She is not, and never has been a disappointment.”

Riley looked up at him, shocked. He was angry. She never saw him that angry. He looked like he was ready to fight and when she glanced at her father, he looked like he was ready to kill Drake. Her mother and sister both looked equally shocked.

“Don’t you dare talking to _me_ like that. You take my daughter away, brainwash her and insult _me_?”

“Your daughter is not your property, she can do whatever she wants. And now I ask you politely to Get. Out. Before I call the cops,” Drake hissed. Trent looked at him before shaking his head.

“You did this to yourself, Riley! You ruined our family!” He said before storming out. His wife ran right after him.

“Holy–” the sister started before pulling Riley in a hug. “Are you okay? Are you?” She looked at Drake who nodded in response.

“I’m Danielle, Dani for friends,” she extended her hand and Drake shook it.

“Drake. Nice to meet you. I’m going to… I’m gonna make some tea,” he looked at Riley worriedly before leaving the sisters alone.

“I’m sorry, I had no idea we were coming to you, Daddy said it was a business trip,” Dani whispered to Riley, still holding her close.

“It’s okay. I know what he’s like.”

“Sooo… I’m not gonna yell at you, even though I should, but why didn’t you tell me you got married??Drake seems like the best guy for you!!”

“Dani, you’ve known him for like five minutes,” Riley chuckled, sitting on the couch and pulling her sister with her.

“That’s enough, I can read people, you two are so good together. And the way he stood up for you? Don’t tell father but it was ah-mazing!”

“Dani…”

“Okay, so how did you meet? How did he proposed? Ooh, do you have any pictures from the wedding?”

“Dani… I need to tell you something…” Riley started and Dani’s face fell. She needed to tell someone. Someone she could trust. The only person knowing the marriage was fake was Liam, Drake’s friend and Riley felt like she needed somone on her side to know that too. She quickly told her everything, about the restaurant, Bartie, accident, Madeleine, Bianca, weird videos from Karlington. At the end of her story, Dani didn’t seem moved.

“Well, if you ask me, that marriage is totally _not_ fake. No fake husband ever looks at his fake wife like Drake does.”

“Like what?”

“Like he loves you and wants to protect you. Like he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you. Like he cares, like he–”

“Oookay, that’s enough. You’re too much of a hopeless romantic and see love everywhere,” Riley shoved her playfully.

“Yeah, yeah, lie to yourself more,” Dani answered and Riley bit her lip. She wasn’t lying, was she? Their marriage was fake and they didn’t have any feelings to each other.

Or did they?

~~~~

After four cups of tea and three hours of catching up, Drake drove Dani back to the hotel she was staying in with her parents. Despite hating Riley’s family, he liked her and he was happy that Riley had at least one person in her family who was normal.

When he came back home, Riley was in the kitchen, washing the dishes and cooking something.

“Hey…” he started, entering the kitchen and smelling something good.

“Hey.”

“What’s that? Smells amazing.”

“It’s just some rigatoni with beef. And some spinach on the side,” she motioned to the spinach Drake put near his eye a few hours before. “I wanted to apologize for my father. He’s not aggressive, he just hates when things are not as he wanted them to be.”

“It’s okay,” Drake shrugged. “It’s not your fault, you don’t have to apologize. How are you?”

“But I do have to. I’m sorry he was so harsh and rude and–” she bit her lip as her voice wavered slighly. She tried not to start crying and Drake noticed her efforts.

“Hey, it is not your fault. You’re not responsible for what your father is doing,” he wasn’t sure what to do or say, he just wanted her to feel better. Without thinking too much about it, he wrapped his arms around Riley and pulled her close. He felt her tears on his shirt and he wanted to yell at her parents for upsetting her so much.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have,” Drake whispered, pulling away slighly, worried he crossed the line. They were a fake couple after all.

“No, it’s… I needed that,” she answered and he pulled her closer again. She snuggled against him, allowing herself to be vulnerable at least for a few minutes before having to face the reality again.

At that point she wasn’t sure how fake their fake relationship was. She didn’t know what that strange feeling she felt towards Drake was and where it came from, the only thing she knew was that for the first time in forever, she felt safe in his arms.

~~~~

“Dani, you look okay,” Riley rolled her eyes when she saw her sister was smoothing her dress for the tenth time since they arrived in the palace the next day.

“Maybe you should’ve mentioned it that Drake’s friend who married you two is a flippin’ king!” she hissed and started fixing her hair. “Do I bow? Is my dress formal enough? Should I cover my shoulders?”

“Dani,” she chuckled, “Liam is not that kind of King. Just be yourself and treat him like a normal person he is.”

Dani sighed and Riley’s eyes met with Drake’s. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

The day before was a weird day for their ‘relationship’ and Riley felt like something broke, as if the barriers were not there anymore. They went to sleep together, without arguing or even teasing. He pulled her close wordlessly and she felt relieved she didn’t have to ask him for it. For some unknown to her reason she found comfort in his closeness.

“Good morning everyone,” Liam greeted them, interrupting Riley’s thoughts.

“Hi, this is my sister, Danielle, I told her everything and she said she wanted to help with the investigation.”

“Nice to meet you, Danielle. I trust you’re enjoying your stay in Cordonia?” Liam smiled as he took Dani’s extended hand and kissed it.

“Dani is fine,” she blushed when Liam finally let go of her hand. “Cordonia is beautiful, your majesty.” She curtsied awkwardly and Liam chuckled.

“Liam is fine.”

“You said there was some news?” Drake asked and Liam reluctantly turned his attention from Dani to his friend.

“Yes, the camera footage from Madeleine came back from the laboratory. The video is legit, no photoshop, no remakes, it’s authentic.”

“Madeleine, you little–”

“That’s not all. The police officially drew back from the case. I still have my investigator and one guard incognito in Karlington though.”

“I can’t believe it,” Drake shook his head and Riley took his hand into hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. Dani smiled noticing that, mentally laughting at her sister’s poor attempts to convince her it was a fake relationship.

“I’m sure sooner or later they’ll make a mistake and we’ll catch it. All we can do right now is wait,” Liam patted his friend’s back and turned to Dani.

“Would you like some apple tea? I know Riley is not a fan and Drake only drinks it if it comes with whiskey.”

“I’d love to,” she answered and curtsied.

“You don’t have to curtsy to me, you know. It’s probably more uncomfortable to me than to you.”

“Oh, oh, I’m sorry! I just never met a King and I’m afraid I never read any Royal protocol so I’m not sure how to act, which is quite annoying to be fair because I was taught to be prepared for every possibility and now I see I failed but it’s fine! I’ll read it tomorrow and I won’t make this mistake ever again, your Majesty.”

“Liam,” he corrected her, chuckling. He didn’t know Riley very well but he could tell how different the two sisters were. Riley would sooner yell at him than curtsy and Danielle just made a two-minute speech apologizing him for curtsying.”

“Right. I’m sorry, sir.”

“Liam.”

“Shoes! I’m sorry Liam,” she corrected herself, trying not to facepalm herself. She was so focused on her mistakes that she missed amused looks that Riley and Drake exchanged.

“Shoes?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah, Nana taught us that. Riley never followed that though. Shoes for shit, duck for fu–” she composed herself. “Can I get that tea, I’m feeling slightly unwell?” She started fanning herself with her hand and Liam quickly went to the back of his office to make tea.

“Well, well, well. I have never seen you so flustered before, Dani,” Riley gave her sister a questioning look.

“He’s the King,” Dani whispered in response. “I don’t know how to act around Kings.”

“Mhmm,” Riley commented as Liam came back with the tea. Dani took the cup gladly and took a sip.

“Good?” Liam asked and she nodded.

“Really good. I like the addition of mint, it makes it taste more fresh.”

“Okay, I gotta go because my mom has an appointment and I’m taking Bartie now,” Drake stood up and opened the door, turning to look at Riley. She gave him a big smile in return and asked, “Dani, you’re coming with us?”

“I can drive you later, if you want to,” Liam offered quickly.

“Yeah, I’ll come with His Maj—Liam.”

“Okay,” Riley shrugged and kissed her sister on the cheek before catching up with Drake. When they left Dani turned to Liam.

“They are _so_ in love. Please tell me you’re seeing it too.”

“I do, actually. And I hope they will see it too one day. I’ve never seen Drake like that, he seems so much happier now, despite everything that is going on.”

“Yeah, same with Riley. But I also know she’s the most stubborn person I know,” Dani sighed and took a few last sips of her tea.

“Drake’s more stubborn.”

“We should get them together. Make them see how in love they are.”

Liam studied her for a moment and Dani felt like she crossed the line. The Royal protocol probably forbid such things. She was just about to apologize when Liam spoke.

“I’m in. Drake deserves the best and Riley seems like she’s the best for him.”

“Riley deserves the best too. We have a deal?” she extended her hand, hesitating slightly when thinking about the protocol.

“Deal.”

They shook each other’s hands and Liam smiled at the thought of spening more time with and getting to know Danielle Brooks.


	11. ELEVEN

“Are you sure it’s gonna work?” Liam asked when Dani was setting up the table.

“I am! Riley loves cooking too much to pass and she’s always softer when she’s cooking. It’s a perfect plan!”

For the past few days since their deal, Liam and Dani kept in touch, exchanging ideas for how to bring Riley and Drake together. When she told him about her plan, Liam immediately agreed and bought all the necessary things.

“So how exactly this is going to work? We call them to come to the kitchen?”

“No, look,” Dani started gesticulating when explaning and Liam thought it was the most adorable thing he ever saw. _Pull it together man, she’s only here for a few weeks._ “You call Drake saying you found something important and need him and Riley to see it. They come here and will be informed by someone that they should come here. They will come to this,” Dani motioned the table, “and Riley will hate that because I set the table in the way she hates it. Also, the dish that will be served is overcooked because I know Riley wouldn’t eat it but also because I’m bad at cooking. She’ll hate it but just as she will be about to go full on Gordon Ramsey, she’ll see all these ingredients laying here, exactly what she needs to make pasta à la Nana, her favorite dish. She hasn’t made it since Nana died but because I decorated this kitchen so cozy with all these candles and the music you picked is so nostalgic, she’ll do it and Drake will help her. Riley once told me she always dreamed about a man who would cook with her so I know she will fall in love, I mean, admit she is in love because let’s be real, they are so in love. Ta-daaam!” She finished and Liam chuckled. She looked a little crazy as she was talking about all those steps but for some reason he found it cute.

“They’re gonna kill us when they realize what we did.”

“Maybe,” she shrugged. “But Riley’s my sister so she won’t do anything to me.”

“And I have immunity so Drake can’t touch me either. Okay, let’s do this,” Liam pulled out his phone and called Drake.

“Hello? Drake, yes, it’s Liam, are you busy?” He asked and looked at Dani shaking her head. “ _What?_ ” he mouthed and she whispered, “He has to come even if he’s busy!”

“You know what, it doesn’t matter if you’re busy or not, you need to come,” Liam quickly added before Drake could reply. “Yes, it’s urgent. I know it’s very late but it’s important. And it can’t wait. You and Riley need to see it as soon as possible,” he looked at Dani again and she showed him two thumbs up.

“Okay, I’ll be waiting. Please, hurry.” Liam hung up and turned to Dani. “They’re coming.”

“Eeek, that’s so exciting! We need to hide somewhere before they find us! Does Bastien know what he’s doing?”

“He does and he can’t believe he agreed to help us set these two up,” Liam chuckled. He still remembered his guard’s face when he told him about that top secret mission.

He led Dani to one of the guest rooms that were the closest to the kitchen.

“I hope you don’t mind but I brought some snacks for us in case we get hungry. And some cider made from our apples,” he motioned the table with the food prepared for them.

“Man, you really do like your apples!” Dani laughed trying to hide her nervousness. Even though, Liam acted like a normal person she still felt that wall between them, the wall reminding her of his status and her inferiority. She smiled as he poured them cider and handed one glass to her.

_Maybe I can pretend we’re equal for a few hours, just this once._

~~~~

“Liam?! Liam! Where are you?” Drake called out as he entered his friend’s office.

“Maybe he’s in his room?” Riley suggested.

“I don’t think so, Liam never invites anyone to his bedroom so he’s not there for sure. Something is weird though, the whole palace seems… empty.”

“Do you think something happened?”

“No but–”

“Ah, Drake, lady Riley, there you are.”

“Bastien! What’s going on? Where’s Liam?”

“In the kitchen. I got instructions to tell you to go to the kitchen,” Bastien said, his face not expressing anything.

“Kitchen? If he found another apple tea for me to test out I’m gonna kill him,” Riley groaned. Drake took her hand and led her to the kitchen.

“Maybe something bad happened to him, maybe he was–” he stopped seeing the candles and the table set for two. “–preparing this all along.”

“Coral roses, my sister’s favorite,” Riley smelled the flowers on the table. “My sister was helping him.”

“I can’t believe they made me leave the house so late,” Drake groaned looking around.

“And what exactly did you have planned? Whiskey drinking? Watching football? Bartie’s with Madeliene and Barthelemy and Bianca is staying with them,” Riley rolled her eyes. Despite being mad at her sister and Liam she found the situation to be quite funny.

“Don’t tell me you’re okay with it,” he narrowed his eyes and she shrugged.

“Oh, no, they _are_ going to pay but for now, I’m happy I don’t have to cook dinner for tonight. Let’s see what they—what on Earth is that?!” She raised her voice when she took a look at what was inside the pot.

“What? Did they put rats in it?”

“Worse, look! It’s severly overcooked! And not seasoned enough,” Riley spit out the food back to the pot before throwing its content to the trash can. She looked around and noticed fresh ingredients.

“Maybe I can cook something? From these things I could make…” she examined all the products before realizing it, “Pasta à la Nana.”

“What? The one you couldn’t make for years?” Drake asked noticing Riley had tears in her eyes. “Let’s just order something, you don’t have to make it.”

“No… I-I can do it. I just need someone to help me because this is a job for two,” she sniffed as she wiped a tear from her eye.

“Riley…”

“No, really. I think it’s time to finally make it again. I think… I think Nana would want that.”

~~~~

“Okay, my turn! Never have I ever had a sleepover at friend’s house.”

“I did spent a few days in Texas at Drake’s when I was still a Prince, does it count?” Liam asked and took a swig of cider when Dani nodded.

“You never had a sleepover?”

“Nope. My father wouldn’t allow,” she laughed but Liam could hear the saddness in it.

“What was your childhood like?” he asked, studying her face.

“Normal, I think. My parents aren’t monster or whatever everyone thinks they are. They took us on trips, to the cinema, for ice cream, they were just very demanding. Well, only my father and only to me. Riley could always do whatever she wanted because they didn’t pay too much attention to her,” she drank a little cider before continuing. “When I was ten I already spoke two foreign languages because instead of meeting with my friends like Riley did, I was stuck at home with a tutor stuying languages. My childhood was good but it didn’t feel like a _child_ hood, if that makes sense.”

“Wow. Only two? When I was ten I already spoke three,” Liam shoved her playfully. “My father was very demanding too. Even though I was the spare it was me who obeyed him, not my brother. He never cared about any rules.”

“Ugh, our fathers suck. Am I allowed to say that about a King?” she asked him and he laughed.

“I’ll allow it.”

“You know what sucks the most?” she asked as she emptied the glass and poured some more cider, “Everyone, including my sister, thinks I had it better. She thinks that at least they loved me, they cared about me and paid for my education. And yes, it’s true but I feel like I had to work for their love, you know what I mean? I had to be their perfect daughter because if I wasn’t, our family would fall apart. I never did what I wanted, never did anything crazy that most people my age would.”

“You never rebelled?” Liam asked remembering his little rebellions. If running to the maze for hide and seek counted as rebellion. He never was good at it, not as good as Leo.

“I did once. I… My father wanted to me to apply for law school. I didn’t want it but I couldn’t argue with my father. So I just… didn’t send the documents on time. When my father found out, it was the worst time of my life. He didn’t scream or anything. He just said he was disappointed because he wanted the best for me and I didn’t appreciate him. The next day my mom told me he was in hospital with severe depression. She yelled at me for ruining my father’s health. I was a mess and I didn’t know what to do. Riley’s younger than me and I didn’t want to bother her with it so I applied for finance even though I hate everything math-related. I went to hospital and I cried in front of my father, apologizing to him and telling him I applied to college. The next day he was back home and told me to never disobey him like that again. And I never did. It was a terrible experience.”

“But that’s manipulation! How could he–” Liam bit his lip before he’d say something he would regret. He heard something about Riley’s parents from Drake but hearing that from Danielle made him sick. Neither Riley, nor Dani deserved such parents. “I’m really sorry. My father was awful but he pales in comparison to yours.”

“I got used to it. Trying my best not to irritate him. I’m working in a bank where he wanted me to work, bringing the money and we’re good.”

“I’m sorry,” Liam repeated and raised his glass. “To problematic childhood, bad fathers and living a life designed by parents!”

Dani laughed as she clinked glasses with Liam. He understood her, which was new to her.

 _To unexpected allies_ , she thought to herself. _I’d drink to that._

~~~~

“Drake, no, you have to be gentle,” Riley took Drake’s hand and moved it slowly as he was stirring the sauce. “Circular moves, gently, just like that. The other hand holds the pot, good.”

She took some ingredients from the table and started adding to the sauce. “Keep on stirring slowly, I’ll be adding these pinch by pinch so it blends nicely.”

Drake nodded as he kept stirring. There was something special about them cooking together, being so close. It was nothing like Drake knew before, most of the food he made was quick and simple. That pasta was taking ages to make but for some reason he enjoyed each step.

“Okay, now be careful cause I’ll be adding pear puree.”

“I never thought pear and tomatoes would go together,” he noticed.

“Me neither. Nana told me she came up with it when she was pregnant and craved tomatoes and pears. The secret is, you need to caramelize the pears before mashing it and the sweetness goes super well with the tomato. And then Parmesan gives it a bit saltiness but we add it at the end so it’s not too overbearing.”

“You’re really good at this,” Drake turned to her, realizing they were only two or three inches apart. “And you really love it.”

“Well, yeah,” Riley said quietly, “thanks to Nana. She taught me everything.”

“Can I try it?”

Riley nodded and quickly took a spoonful of the sauce and topped it with the cheese before feeding it to Drake. She looked at him, at his mouth, as he was swallowing. “Good?”

“I’ve never eaten anything as good. You have a real talent, Riley. I’m really happy you’ll have your own restaurant soon, you deserve it.”

“Thank you but if you’d rather keep the bar, it’s fine,” she said, surprised with herself. Why did she care more about Drake than about her dream?

“It’s yours, Riley. You’ll prove everyone who never believed in you once the restaurant will become the most famous one in the world,” the certainity in his voice made her shiver. Did he really believe in her or was he just nice? She looked at him as he took a spoonful of sauce, added Parmesan, just like she taught him, and brought to her mouth. She parted her lips and felt that familiar taste, the one that reminded her of her Nana, of home, of love. It was perfect.

“Can’t you see how amazing you are?” Drake whispered and without thinking, Riley stood on her toes and kissed him. He dropped the spoon, and brought her closer to him, deepening the kiss. She put her arms around his neck, trying to bring him even closer but it wasn’t enough. She needed more, more of him, more of that, more.

They were kissing like crazy, like they were waiting their whole life for that moment. Drake pinned her to the stove, knocking out a few plates that fell on the floor and broke. He moved to kissing her neck as she moaned, running her hands through his hair. He pulled back for a second as he realized they were still in the palace.

“Let’s go home,” he rasped and she nodded, kissing him again as they slowly exited the kitchen, locked in a kiss.

~~~~

“I’m not kidding! My mom did tell me to get a plastic surgery once,” Dani laughed as she drank cider.

“What? Why would you need it?”

“She said my boobs were too small.”

“But there’s nothing wrong with your–” Liam composed himself trying not to think about it, “I’m sorry, that’s definitely not anything a daughter would want to hear.”

“Well, she said they were too small and making me unattractive,” she shrugged and realized what she just said. To the King of Cordonia. “Oh my goose, I’m sorry I’m taking about my boobs to you.”

“Goose? Your grandma really loved animals, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, a lot,” Dani answered, relieved Liam changed the topic. “Should we check on Riley and Drake? It’s almost midnight.”

Liam nodded and they tiptoed to the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible. Liam peeked from behind the door to see if they were still inside but the kitchen was empty.

“Drake? Riley?” he called out but no one answered.

“They made the pasta!” Dani took the pot from the counter and tried a little. “So good!”

“Why didn’t they eat it? I’ll leave it in the fridge so they can take it tomorrow,” Liam offered.

“I think they went straight for the dessert,” she giggled and Liam blushed.

“Well, mission accomplished. I’ll be heading home then.”

“I’ll have my driver drive you back to the hotel.”

“Thanks. And thank you for helping me arrange this and for the snacks and cider. And for letting me rant about my parents.”

“Hey, Danielle,” he asked when she was about to leave, “Would you like to come here in the morning? I would like to show you something.”

“I’d love to,” she smiled and left. Liam looked after her until she disappeared completely. He sat down on a chair and put his head in his hands. He needed to stop, whatever that little feeling he had, before it would be too late. Danielle was leaving soon and besides he already lost his chance at love. It was time to stop dreaming and face the reality. He sighed as he decided him and Danielle must remain friends. Now, it was only his heart that needed to follow through with that decision.

~~~~

Drake and Riley were kissing as they entered the cabin, barely closing the door. Drake picked up Riley and brought her into the bedroom, not stopping kissing her even for a moment. He laid her on the bed, his eyes searching hers, looking for something and she nodded, silently answering his question. He pulled off her dress and his shirt.

“Are you sure? I know it’s your–”

“I am,” she silenced him with a kiss and pulled him close to her. It wasn’t the time to pretend she didn’t like him when every inch of her body and soul needed him. It was the time to face the truth.

And the truth was, she was falling in love with Drake Walker.


	12. TWELVE

“Oh, wonderful, you’re here!” Liam smiled as Dani entered his office.

“It’s only seven, why did you want me to come here so early?” she asked trying to stifle a yawn.

“Because… today is your lucky day,” _and mine too,_ he thought to himself.

“My lucky day wouldn’t start before ten,” she smirked and he let out a laugh.

“My apologies. I just wanted to have a whole day.”

“For what?”

“I was thinking about what you said last night, about your parents and childhood and… I thought we could this day to do all these things we wanted to but couldn’t because of our parents. Just one day pretending nothing is limiting us.”

“Your Majesty…” Dani started.

“Liam,” he corrected her.

“… Liam,” she smiled, “I appreciate the offer but how exactly are we going to do that?”

“I think you’re forgetting that _I_ am a King.” He heard a sigh in response and he went on, “Just tell me what your parents forbade you doing and we’ll do that. For me, I was forbidden to eat too much baklava. Or missing important meetings. Too bad I’m going to miss one today.”

“Oh, you’re bad,” she laughed. “Okay, I’m in. My list is much longer though. I can’t eat in bed, walk into the water fully clothed,” she shrugged when she sad Liam’s confused look, “talk to strangers, eat too much sweets so I don’t get too fat, have a dog, ride a motorcycle, the list goes on.”

“Well,” Liam took her hand leading her out of the office and then out of the palace. The first thing she saw was a motorcycle, as if ready for them. She looked at Liam and he smiled. “As I said, today’s your lucky day.”

~~~~

Riley opened her eyes feeling a warm ray of sunshine on her face. She stretched a little as she remembered the events of last night. Drake wasn’t in bed anymore and her clothes were folded neatly on the chair nearby.

 _Drake,_ she thought to herself, smiling at the thought. It was surprising to her how a mere mention of Drake’s name made her smile. They’d come a long way and after yesterday there was no turning back. At least she hoped so.

She stretched her legs and arms and she felt her body aching a little. But she liked that, it was a nice ache. She felt warm inside at the thought what she and Drake did last night, of how vulnerable and gentle Drake was with her. How assuring and caring he was.

She closed her eyes in hopes to relive what happened. The sunshine was warming her naked body from the outside but the memories made her feeling warm inside as well.

Finally, she decided it was time to get up and find her _husband_. She wasn’t sure where exactly they stood now and she knew she needed answers. But breakfast first.

The first thing that hit her when she entered the kitchen was the smell. Riley was aware Drake wasn’t the worst cook but whatever it was that Drake was making smelled delicious. So delicious that even her stomach decided to loudly express its approval, causing Drake to turn.

“Good morning, I’m making breakfast,” he said while mixing something in the bowl. As Riley tried to peek inside, Drake kissed her quickly and looked at her, as if not sure if it was okay. She smiled at him as she leaned in and kissed him back.

“No one’s gonna believe us when we say it was a fake marriage,” he laughed when they finally parted.

“Is it though?”

“No… at least not for me. I think,” he said and looked at Riley. She nodded.

“Not for me either. Not anymore. I think,” she smiled. “What are you making?”

“Oh, well, it’s not as good as your pasta but it’s the omelet my Dad used to make on Sundays. He called them _rich omelets_ because there’s so much stuff in them.”

“Intriguing. Maybe I should put them in the menu when I open my restaurant?”

“I’m afraid it’s too basic for your amazing cuisine,” he laughed as he kissed her nose.

“There’s nothing bad with basics. Not everything has to be elaborate,” she explained and Drake felt she wasn’t just talking about food. And somehow it made him fall for her a little bit more.

~~~~

“Oh my goose, this place is beautiful!” Dani exclaimed when they reached their destination. She was still a little bit dizzy after the motorbike which Liam claimed to have borrowed from his brother.

“It’s one of my favorite places,” he admitted realizing he never brought anyone there with him. “Forgotten Falls is so beautiful this time of the year.”

“It is! Wait, why are we _here_? It’s not so I could swim in my clothes, is it?” she asked but his smile left no doubts. “Is it?!”

“It’ll be fun!”

“I’ll be wet and cold! And this dress was pretty expensive and–”

“Danielle,” he said softly and she took notice of how nice it felt when he was using her full name. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but only if _you_ don’t want to. Not your parents or anyone else.”

She looked at him confused, as if he just tried to explain some physics laws to her. She wasn’t used to doing things she wanted.

“I’m really sorry if it was a stupid idea, Danielle,” she turned to Liam who had a concerned look on his face. She glanced at the water and she walked towards it.

“It’s really okay if you don’t–” Liam started but heard a loud splash before he finished. He turned around surprised to see Dani laughing in the water. He walked closer to her and noticed how happy and beautiful she looked. So carefree, so–

“Hey!” he exclaimed when Dani splashed him with water, “Getting my suit wet was not a part of _my_ list!”

“And what are you going to do with it, your Majesty?” she raised an eyebrow. He narrowed his eyes before jumping in right beside her, splashing her even more. She looked stunned for a second, before she finally bursted into laughter.

“So, we’ve covered the motorcycle and clothes in water. I also brought lots of baklava for later so we both can cross that out of our lists. What else did your parents forbide you to do, miss Brooks?”

“Failing an exam. Sleeping with random guys and getting pregnant before I’m thirty,” she shrugged, “he wanted to make sure I have a career first. Having my own company because he thinks I’d need a man to be my boss, not answering my phone when he calls, date whoever I want. Disappearing for a day without telling him where I’m going,” she looked at Liam knowingly and he laughed.

“What would he say about jumping off the waterfall?”

“He actually never mentioned that but I can call him and ask if you want to,” she teased. “I think he’d hate it.”

“Let’s go then. It’s safe, I promise,” he added when he saw her terrified face.

Liam took her hand as he led her. He didn’t want to tell her about the legend and the meaning behind it, thinking it wasn’t true if he brought her there only as a friend. Besides, he didn’t want to scare her off. She was leaving in a few weeks anyway.

“Ready?”

“Umm, no?” Dani looked down and felt that she was going to be sick.

“It’ll be fine. I promise. I’ll hold your hand this whole time,” he said and she nodded.

“3…2….1 jump!” he jumped, taking Dani with him and a few seconds later, they both were safe and sound in the water.

“Okay, it wasn’t that bad and my father would certainly not approve of that,” she laughed nervously as she realized how close Liam was. He watched her curiously and she swallowed hard. She was pretty sure her father would hate that too.

“You know,” she started, her voice so quiet that Liam had to guess what she was saying. “My father also told me to never ever kiss Kings, especially after jumping off the waterfall with him.”

Liam chuckled and Dani felt his breath on her face.

“That’s a very specific rule.”

“Yeah, you know, he’s just very strict. And imaginative. And–” she didn’t finish as Liam kissed her hard. She retured the kiss with just as much passion as if that kiss was the answer to all her desires, if that kiss was a means of breaking free. His hands were all over her body, her blazer dress sticking to her skin, and the water from his hair was dropping on her neck. When they pulled away, both were panting as if they were underwater for several minutes.

Liam looked at her trying to catch her breath and mentally scolded himself for kissing her. That was _not_ what friends would do. He lost his chance at love long time ago and it was time to start controlling his feelings. Wordlessly, Liam helped her out of the water and back on the motorcycle. If they were to carry on with their plans for the day, he needed to contain himself.

~~~~

Riley and Drake were walking in the woods near his cabin to get some fresh air. Every once in a while, they would stop for a quick kiss and throughout the whole walk they would steal glances at each other. They probably looked like silly teenagers falling in love for the first time but it didn’t matter. Besides they were in the woods, the chances of someone seeing them were very–

“Drake?”

Drake closed his eyes recognizing the voice and it took everything in him not to take Riley’s hand and run off. Instead, he turned around and plastered a smile.

“Kiara. How nice to see you… in _my_ neighborhood.”

“Ah, oui. I was in need of some fresh air and I remember when you told me about this place,” she smiled sweetly at him and he rolled his eyes.

“It must have been ages ago. Anyway, Kiara, meet my beautiful wife Riley,” he looked at Riley with admiration in his eyes. “Riley, this is Kiara, one of Liam’s suitors.”

“Nice to meet you, Kiara,” Riley smiled but didn’t extend her hand for Kiara to shake it, neither did Kiara.

“Enchantée.” Kiara’s smile faded a little, “Liam’s never been for me anyway,” she looked knowingly at Drake before turning to Riley. “It was nice meeting you two. Congratulations on votre mariage.”

Riley nodded in reponse as Kiara walked away. She turned to Drake, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Have you two ever…?” she asked and Drake shook his head.

“She had a crush on me at some point, or so I’ve been told. I never really paid too much attention to her.”

“Hmpf,” Riley nodded as she resumed their walk.

“I promise nothing ever happened between us,” he took her hand and kissed it. “Do I need to prove it to you?” he asked and from the mischevious smile she had on her face he guessed that the answer was ‘yes’.

~~~~

“Oh my goose, how come I never had that?” Dani asked with her mouth full of baklava. Her stomach would hurt tomorrow but who cared.

“Told you,” Liam answered in between bites.

“It’s all over my dress, my father would hate that,” she laughed cheerfully. It was pretty adorable how she was so happy breaking the rules her father set, Liam thought to himself.

_Contain yourself._

“So what’s your craziest dream?” he asked taking another portion of baklava. When he order the treat from the local bakery, the lady working there thought he was having a party.

“Honestly?” she asked as he nodded. “Having a family. Good husband, kids, home. It doesn’t sound crazy, I know but it _is_ crazy for me. Because my father pushes me to focus on work till I’m at least thirty something and only then can I think of having children. Or rather a child, he says there’s too many problems with more than one child. And also because he said he didn’t want to have too many grandchildren. Did I mention he said he wanted to choose a husband for me?”

“What?” Liam almost choked on his baklava.

“I told you it was a crazy dream. But it’s my biggest one. I just… I really want that,” she saddened for a moment and Liam’s heart broke a little. Maybe he was a King but there was nothing he could do about her dream.

_At least that only proves you can’t be with her. You can’t give her children. You’d only ruin her dream._

Liam swallowed hard realizing that it was true. That despite everything he still had hope but now… it was gone completely. He didn’t want to ruin her dream.

“I’m sure… this dream will come true… if you really want that,” he tried to sound supportive but he felt empty. Which was weird considering he ate so much baklava.

“Are you ready to move to a different place?” he asked after a moment. It was already getting late and he wanted to take her out for dinner before they had to part. And despite everything, he really didn’t want to part.

“Sure.”

The ride back was rather quick and quiet. When they parked in front of the palace, Liam run his hand through his hair nervously.

“There’s something else, one more thing from your list. But we, ah, need to go to my room,” he blushed slightly.

“Color me intrigued,” she tried to sound normal but in fact she was internally freaking out. She was just about to go inside the King’s bedroom. She never was in a King’s bedroom. Did he have a throne in his room? Was the whole room painted gold? She was positively surprised when she noticed that the room despite looking regal wasn’t too ostentatious. It looked even cozy. Except for the paintings of different people, they looked creepy.

“So… you said you couldn’t have a dog and I obviously can’t give you a dog because your father wouldn’t let you keep it but I thought… Maxwell has a dog, a Corgi, and he actually gave me and Drake a little Corgi plushies for Christmas. And I thought I’d give it to you. As a symbolic dog and a something you can remember this day by.”

“Liam…” Dani looked at the toy with tears in her eyes. “This is the nicest thing someone ever did for me. Thank you, I love it so much.” She squeezed the dog. Then she quickly pressed her lips to Liam’s, catching him off guard. When she pulled away he smiled at her nervously.

“Don’t understand me wrong but… Would you like to eat something in my bed?”

~~~~

Madeleine was pacing back and forth in the living room. She didn’t like not being in control and that exactly what was happening right now.

“I’m telling you. I thought it was a fake marriage as well but apparently it’s not,” Kiara said, which only made Madeleine more angry. She didn’t believe that Drake married Riley for love and she wanted to use that fact in court. But when Kiara filled her with what she saw, which was a very-in-love Riley and Drake taking a stroll in the woods, she knew she had to come up with something else.

“Then we need to make them want to divorce,” she finally said.

“Mais… Madeleine, I don’t think Drake will want to divorce her… Especially now that he has a chance at winning the custody.”

“No…” Madeleine smiled as she opened the drawer and took out something. She took Kiara’s hand and put the content of her hand onto her palm. Kiara’s eyes widened and she met Madeleine’s eyes. “He won’t. But she will.”


	13. THIRTEEN

Dani yawned as she opened her eyes and waited for her vision to focus. It took her a moment to register she wasn’t in her hotel room.

“Shoes,” she muttered as she tried to find her phone and check the time.

“Morning,” she heard a voice from behind and turned to see Liam smiling at her.

“Morning. Why did you let me fall asleep? My parents will kill me!”

“I can always put them in jail,” he chuckled as she frantically looked through her purse.

“You don’t know them. They are nice people only if things go according to their plan. I already lost ‘good daughther’ points for being away the whole day,” she tried to get up but quickly sat back down and covered herself as she realized she was in fact completely naked.

_Huh, so that wasn’t a dream._

“Would you mind?” she asked motioning to her body but Liam only grinned.

“I don’t, in fact.”

“Come on, I need to put on clothes,” she pleaded.

“Do you really need to go?” he asked as he turned away so she could get dressed. She glanced at him to make sure he wasn’t looking and only then got up and ran to the chair to take her dress.

“I am. Our crazy day turned into night but it’s time to get back to being a proper daughter,” she explained and could see him nodding his head. Her phone was lying next to the dress and she quickly checked the time. It was six thirty, good.

“If they only could see what their proper daughter did yesterday,” Liam joked and Dani threw a pillow at him. “Hey!”

“Thank you, you know, for the day and… night,” she blushed. “I had a great time and I really appreciate it.”

“I’ll ask one of our drivers to drive you back,” he offered, noticing she was putting on shoes.

“No, I’m good, I’ll run.”

“Run?” he raised an eyebrow, “In heeled sandals and a dress?”

“I’m a woman of many talents,” she chuckled. She turned to him to say goodbye and her face fell a little. Why didn’t she notice before how good he looked shirtless? And then it hit her.

_I slept with a fricken’ King!_

“Well, ahem, I… I gotta go, so bye and thank you… for the dog… and the rest,” she waved awkwardly and ran to open the door but instead of the door, she ran straight into the wall.

“Danielle!” Liam stood up and she tried to ignore the view.

“Shoes! Okay, now I’m going!”

When she left, Liam lay in the bed, both regret and happiness washing over him. They definitely crossed the line but for some reason none of them could help it. And it seemed like nothing changed in their friendship, which was both good and frustrating for him. He closed his eyes, suppressing tears.

_Why do you show me what love feels like if I can’t have it?_

~~~~

Completely out of breath, Dani arrived in her hotel room. It was right next to her parents’ room and she could hear they were still asleep. She quickly changed to her pajamas and just when she was about to climb into bed, she heard a knock on the door. Before she even walked up to open it, her parents already came in.

“Where were you yesterday?”

“I was… sightseeing. Learning more about the culture and Cordonians. It took me more time than I thought but I feel more educated now,” she answered, hoping it’d satisfy her father.

“Hmm. Well then. But next time you need to tell me exactly where you’re going.”

“Of course, Daddy,” she nodded.

“I wanted to talk to you about something exciting and important yesterday but you weren’t answering your phone,” he narrowed his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Daddy. What was it?”

“Remember when you ruined your chance and didn’t apply for law school, which almost killed me?” He asked and Dani’s face fell.

“Yes…”

“Well, luckily, I forgave you but the pain you caused me is still with me. The good news is, after months of negotiating, I got you an interview! You’ll finally go to law school and if you’re lucky, find a good and rich husband.”

“Law…school? But… I’m almost twenty-seven, I thought… I–” she struggled to find words. How could she tell her father she wanted to start a family already?

“Danielle Eleanor Brooks, you already ruined one chance, do not ruin this one,” her father raised his voice slightly.

“Of course I won’t. I’m very thankful for what you’ve done for me,” she smiled as she tried not to cry.

“Good. I brought you a some brochures so you can look through them. All your documents are submitted already so you won’t _miss_ the deadline. Just prepare yourself for the interview, that’s the least you can do,” he explained and she nodded absent-mindedly.

“Your mom and I are going out for breakfast, use that time productively to look up information about the program,” he said and left the room.

Dani let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

 _Law school_.

She went back to her bed and buried her face in the pillow, letting her tears roll freely. She felt ungrateful even thinking about it but the truth was, she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to go to law school, she didn’t want to marry any rich lawyer.

She thought back to the previous day, how free she finally felt. She wished she could feel that way every day.

 _She wished she could be with Liam every day_.

She sat down, her eyes widened as that thought struck her.

_Oh no._

She couldn’t be falling for Liam. He’s a King. And Kings need… Queens. Not someone like her.

But for the first time in her life, she felt like she knew what she wanted. Someone like Liam. Living in a place like Cordonia, far from her parents but close to her sister.

She lay down and closed her eyes.

_Oh, please, please, please. Let something happen so I don’t have to go to law school. Let something happen so I can reclaim my life._

~~~~

“Mhm,” Riley moaned as Drake was peppering her face with kisses.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” he murmured into her ear and she shivered.

“Morning,” she smiled at him, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world being woken up by that man. She lifted her head slightly and kissed him. Drake kissed her back and he rolled on top of her and moved his lips to her neck.

“Drake,” she whispered, “I need to be in the restaurant in like an hour.”

“You are the boss, you can be late,” he answered not stopping what he was doing even for a moment.

She closed her eyes and decided that Drake was right. Some things were just more important and at that moment, the restaurant was not important at all.

~~~~

Twenty minutes later, Drake and Riley finally went to the kitchen to get breakfast. They ate their toasts in complete silence, not being able to stop smiling. Riley never thought she could be that happy. She was in love with Drake Walker and she couldn’t wait to tell him. Especially that from the way he looked at her she knew he felt the same.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you?” he asked when they finished and Riley was washing the dishes.

“Yes, I’ll walk. It’s not that far away and the day is beautiful.”

“ _You_ are beautiful,” he kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be waiting then. Don’t be too long though, I have plans for us.”

“Oh? What kind of plans?”

“Secret plans,” he smiled at her knowingly. She didn’t want to show him what she was doing with the restaurant, claiming it would be a surprise and he wanted to surprise her with something too.

Since their relationship got so much better, Drake regretted their rocky start and wished he was nicer to her since she was doing _him_ a favor. And even though he still hadn’t said the l-word, he was planning to. Along with a proper proposal, since she never got any. His grandma’s ring was hidden safely in his drawer, waiting for the evening. He smiled softly at the thought of him asking Riley to be his wife, for real this time.

“You can always clean up the house in the meantime,” she grinned, “since Bartie is coming tomorrow.”

“I’ll find something to do, don’t worry.”

Riley just shook her head but Drake caught a glimpse of her smile. She put on shoes and took the keys.

“It’ll probably take me about two hours, maybe more. Plenty of time to clean,” she teased.

“Yeah, yeah,” he kissed her, “come home soon, ‘kay?”

“As soon as I can,” she kissed him back.

~~~~

It was only thirty mintes after Riley left, when Drake heard a knock on the door. Groaning, he got up from the couch where he was napping. His face fell slightly when he saw who was behind the door.

“Hey, Drake,” Kiara started. “May I come in?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he admitted.

“Please… it’s important. I went to see Madeleine and… something about Savannah and Bertand.”

Drake’s eyes widened and he moved slightly, “Come in.”

“Merci. I brought your favorite whiskey so the news is more… bearable.”

She came in and looked around. “Where do you keep glasses?”

“Kiara, no offence, but I’d rather just listen to what you found out so you can leave.”

“I’m trying to be nice, Drake,” Kiara sighed. “The information I obtained… I don’t know if I can trust you with it, especially that Madeleine doesn’t know I’m here. I heard it while she was talking to her private investigator.”

“She’s my sister, of course you can tell me!”

“See, this is why I’m afraid to tell you anything. You get so… aggressive. Just sit on the couch, I’ll pour us some whiskey.”

When Drake went to the living room, she noticed his phone on the counter.

 _Perfect_ , she thought to herself as she picked it up. She quickly typed a message and sent it to Riley.

“ _Bonjour, me cherie, Riley’s out so come here because I can’t get you out of my mind_ ”

If everything went according to plan, Riley would think he sent it to her accidentally. She smiled to herself and deleted the message from Drake’s phone. Then she took two glasses and poured whiskey to both of them. She looked over her shoulder but Drake was sitting on the couch in the living room and could only see her back. With shaking hands, she added something to Drake’s glass and took the glasses to the living room.

“There you go,” she handed a glass to Drake and sat in front of him.

“So what’s the news,” he took a sip and she smiled.

“The investigator said that apparently they had an argument before they went missing…” she started, noticing how quickly the whiskey was disappearing from Drake’s glass. “And it could’ve been an accident that they both just fell off the bridge.”

“Bridge?” Drake asked, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy. He hadn’t had whiskey in like four days, maybe that was why.

“Bridge. Big, grey bridge.”

“Bridge,” he repeated but words suddenly stopped making sense.

“You look tired, cherie, would you like to go to the bedroom and take a nap?”

“Na-aap?” he asked, his vision going blurry. He looked at his whiskey and then at Kiara.

“Wha–aat is happening?”

“Nothing, my dear. I’m saving you from Riley. Shhhh, everything is going to be okay. Just relax and let me take care of you.”

~~~~

Riley was running back home, furious. Whoever Drake sent that message to was probably already in the house. And she wanted to tell him she loved him! How stupid she was!

And even though she still felt angry, she also hoped it was an accident.

 _Well, I’m just about to find out_ , she thought to herself as she unlocked the door.

“Drake?” she called out. She heard weird noises from the living room and her heart started beating fast.

_Please no, please no, please–_

She entred the living room and gasped as she took in what was happening. Drake was lying on the couch, shirtless and on top of him…

_Kiara._

The woman was also shirtless, wearing a bra but the worst part was…

She was kissing Drake. And he was kissing her back.


	14. FOURTEEN

Riley stood still, her eyes wide open not being able to stop looking. The glass water bottle she was holding, slipped from her hands and hit the floor, breaking into thousands of pieces, just like her heart.

The noise caused Kiara and Drake to look up and finally acknowledge that someone was in the room with them. Drake’s eyes widened slightly as he noticed Riley and he blinked a couple of times as if trying to sober up.

“Riley,” he rasped as he tried to get up, pushing Kiara off of him.

“Yes, Riley. Your _wife._ ” Riley hissed, her eyes welling up with tears. “I’m sorry I ruined your little rendezvous.”

“Riley… It’s not… I don’t…” he tried to think of words, something that would make sense but nothing came to his mind. He turned his attention to Kiara and noticed she was only in her bra. And he wasn’t wearing any shirt.

_Oh no._

“I swear I don’t–” Drake started as he tried to get up but Riley started already walking away.

“Riley!” he cried out after her but heard only the sound of the front door closing as a response. He felt someone’s hand stroking his hair and saw Kiara, smiling down at him.

“Get. Out,” he hissed, pushing her hand away. The shock after seeing Riley made him a little bit more sober but he still wasn’t able to get up from the couch.

“Mais, Drake, we aren’t finished yet!”

“Get out!” He raised his voice and flinched at how loud it was. “I don’t know what you did to me, but you’re gonna pay.”

“Drake, you must be sick, I didn’t do anything,” she tried to grab his hand but he pushed it away, again.

“Get out or I’ll call the cops,” he theatened and Kiara swallowed hard.

“Well, if you insist,” she fixed her dress and grabbed her purse, “if you need anything just call me.”

Drake sighed as Kiara left. What was wrong with that whiskey? He only drank one glass! One glass! Was it because he hadn’t drank whiskey in a few days? That wasn’t possible, was it?

Drake looked for his phone but couldn’t find it anywhere. Not being able to stand up on his own yet, he lay down and closed his eyes, hoping Riley would understand when he finally would be able to explain what happened.

~~~~

“Riley?” Dani looked at her sister with concern written all over face. Riley almost never cried. The last time she did, was at Nana’s funeral. And now, Riley was standing in front of her hotel room, her eyes red from crying, her whole face swollen.

“May I come in?” She asked and Dani nodded, letting her in.

“Can I stay here for a bit?”

“Ri… what happened?”

“Nothing,” Riley shrugged and walked up to Dani’s bed and sat on it.

“I’m not stupid, Ri. What’s wrong?”

“Oh, besides, the fact that I just found Drake in bed with another woman? Not much really.”

“What?!” Dani’s eyes widened. “Are you sure it was Drake? Not his evil twin or something?”

Riley raised an eyebrow at her sister.

“I mean, it doesn’t sound like Drake to me.”

“Well, I guess you don’t know him that well. And neither do I,” Riley added, almost whispering.

“I don’t understand. Drake would NEVER. He is so in love with you!”

“Can you please stop? He was not, clearly. I was right not to trust him, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Riley, can you start from the beginning? It doesn’t make any sense to me!” Dani shook her head. Drake would never do it. She was sure of it.

Within next couple of minutes, Riley filled her in with all the details, starting with the message and ending on her leaving their apartment.

His apartment.

She wasn’t going to live there with him anymore.

“That… still doesn’t sound like Drake. Something must have happened.”

“You know what happened? You always seeing people as good. And some people are just not. And you know what? It’s fine. I don’t care. I don’t care about Drake and I never did. I just wanted the restaurant and now I have it. I reached my goal, I don’t need Drake anymore.”

“That sounds more like you are trying to convince yourself rather than me,” Dani noticed and Riley narrowed her eyes.

“I need to use the bathroom,” she said and quickly left the room. She wished it was as easy as she told Dani it was but her heart felt like breaking. She hated herself for falling for Drake so easily.

Riley sat down on a bathtub and wiped the tears that kept on coming. That wasn’t Drake. She thought she knew him. And what hurt the most was that in fact, she didn’t.

~~~~

“Answer the phone!” Drake had been trying to reach Riley for the tenth time and she was still not answering. He still felt a bit dizzy but he could walk a little at least.

“Riley!” He yelled at the phone but it was pointless, she wasn’t answering.

He threw his phone on the couch and sat down, burying his head in his hands. Everything smelled like whiskey and for the first time in his life, he hated that smell.

He looked up at his glass and noticed how dirty it was. What was weirder, Kiara’s wasn’t.

“I’m gonna burn the glass she drank from,” he murmured to himself as he took the glasses to the kitchen. He threw Kiara’s glass to the trash can and was about to put his in the dishwasher when he noticed a little bit of white powder at the bottom of the glass.

“What the…” he inspected the powder but it didn’t smell like anything. He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth.

“That little–” he kicked the dishwasher before grabbing his phone.

“Liam? Can I ask you to have something tested for me? I think someone tried to drug me.”

~~~~

Riley was lying on the bed with Dani spooning her. When she was younger, she always came to Dani’s room and slept in her sister’s bed. It made her feel safe. It was already late and Dani was fast asleep but Riley couldn’t sleep. The image of Drake and Kiara was haunting her and she couldn’t escape it. Every time she closed her eyes she first saw her and Drake, happy and in love and then the image was followed by Drake and Kiara in bed. She sighed deeply as she turned her attention to the table where she left her phone. Every once in a while, it went bright for a few seconds, lighting up the whole room before going dark again. It was two in the morning and Drake still was calling her. He hadn’t stopped calling her even for a moment, the longest break he had was less than ten minutes and Riley was worried he didn’t even have time to eat.

Not that she cared.

Her phone lit up again and she squeezed her eyes shut. _Go to sleep Drake_ , she thought.

The phone was lighting up many more times before Riley finally fell asleep and stopped counting.

~~~~

When Riley woke up, she felt even less refreshed than she did before going to sleep. She quickly checked her phone.

Two hundred sixty four missed calls. Twenty messages. The last one was from five minutes ago.

She turned off her phone.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Dani greeted her, walking out of the bathroom.

“Morning.”

“Feeling any better?”

Riley shook her head, “Worse. I think I had nightmares this whole time.”

“You poor thing. Would coffee make you a bit happier? The cafeteria here is pretty good if you ask me,” Dani offered.

“Please,” Riley said and Dani nodded before heading out.

Riley went back to bed and started drifting off but a phone notification woke her up.

“Ugh, I thought I turned it off,” she groaned. She took the phone and noticed it was Dani’s phone, not hers and the notification was from… Liam?

“He’s probably asking where I am,” she rolled her eyes as she read the message.

_Good morning, what improper things is the proper daughter up to today?_

Riley raised her eyebrows reading the text once… then again… and again.

“Well, I guess Dani has some explaining to do as well,” she murmured. She knew her sister and Liam planned the dinner for her and Drake but she had no idea Dani was so close with him.

When Dani came back with coffee, Riley was sitting on the bed smiling.

“Thank you, my lifesaver!”

“Are you okay?” Dani asked worriedly.

“I’m better. But there’s something that can make me feel even better.”

“What is it? Do you need a cupcake?”

“I’d feel much better if my dear sister told me allll the interesting things about her relationship with the _King_ ,” Riley wiggled her eyebrows.

“My _what_?” Dani asked, almost tripping.

“He messaged you, I thought it was my phone so I read it. Come on, you know what’s between Drake and I, I want to know what is between you and Liam!”

“But there’s nothing,” Dani shrugged. “He’s a King. And I’m going back to New York at the end of September. We… I think I can say we’ve become good friends. But… we live in two different realities and there’s no more than that.”

“But you like him?” Riley studied Dani’s face closely. She didn’t need an answer. Dani’s red face said it all. “You want to have something more with him, don’t you?”

“I do not! He’s a good man and I’m sure he’ll soon find a good woman to marry. I treat him as my friend but nothing beyond that,” Dani bit her lip. She really wished it was true. He deserved someone as amazing as he was. And she was leaving in a few weeks. It could never work out.

“Well, your good man is calling you,” Riley motioned Dani’s phone and Dani grabbed it.

“Yes? Hi,” she said as she closed the bathroom door behind her, catching a glimpse of Riley shaking her head.

“I’m good, thank you. How are you?”

“Busy,” Liam chuckled. “How… How is Riley?”

Last night, when Riley was taking a shower, Dani messaged Liam and told him Riley was staying with her. She didn’t have Drake’s number but knew Liam would tell him. And she didn’t want either of them to be worried.

“Miserable. She’s trying to act as if nothing happened but I know her, she’s suffering.”

“She should talk to him. They should talk,” Liam sighed.

“I know, but she doesn’t want to answer her phone. I can’t make her.”

“I… Drake… He was drugged. Most likely. Kiara must have added something to his drink.”

“What?!”

“We’re still waiting for the analysis from the lab but… Drake found something white in his glass. And the symptoms he had, it’s clear that Kiara drugged him.”

“I knew Drake wouldn’t do it! I knew it! He loves her. And ugh, why would anyone do this?” Dani asked confused. She didn’t know Kiara but she didn’t like her already.

“Who knows,” Dani heard Liam sighing. “Kiara always had a crush on Drake. But… she’s also Madeleine’s friend so…”

“Oh. I understand.”

There was a silence for a moment before Liam cleared his throat.

“I… miss you. My days are much better when we eat baklava all day and jump from the waterfalls.”

Dani chuckled. “My stomach still hurts from the baklava. And I didn’t even eat a half of what you did! How do you even do it?”

“It’s a talent,” Liam laughed. “You’re not the only one with many talents.”

“Yes, well,” She felt warm inside. How nice would it be if things were different. If maybe, there were in another life, where things were easier. “I gotta go and be with my sister. But keep me updated.”

“Of course. Have a good day, Danielle.”

~~~~

Riley was pacing in Dani’s hotel room when her sister left. She wanted to go to her restaurant but was scared she would bump into Drake and she didn’t want to see him.

Dani tried to tell her that the situation was just one big misunderstanding and explained how Drake was supposedly drugged.

“A drowning man will clutch at a straw,” Riley commented and didn’t want to talk to anyone anymore. 

She wasn’t sure if Drake wasn’t making this up, a poor excuse for what he did. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore and that hurt her the most. She thought she knew him. It turned out she didn’t. And she didn’t know what to do or what to think. She decided not to trust anyone.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She opened it and as soon as she saw who was standing behind it, she tried to close it again.

“Riley, please, stop, we need to talk,” Drake pleaded.

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Riley! I didn’t do anything! She _drugged_ me. I lost control over my own body.”

“And why should I believe you?” she asked and he stared at her, his mouth wide open.

“Because… it’s true?”

“Goodbye, Drake,” she tried to close the door but Drake effortlessly opened them.

“I was drugged, Riley! What am I supposed to do so you finally talk to me?”

“Nothing, Drake,” she sighed. “I’m tired. This whole situation… Bartie, our fake marriage, now this… I am tired”

“Our marriage is not fake. What do you want me to do? Tell me!”

“Let’s just… focus on getting this custody. And then getting our marriage annuled.”


	15. FIFTEEN

“Hey, can you please pass the charger?”

Dani looked up from her bed and wordlessly threw the charger at her sister.

“Thanks.”

“Are you going to call Drake?” She asked but already knew the answer. It had been a few weeks since Riley moved out from Drake’s cabin and moved into Dani’s hotel room. She said she talked with Drake but decided it was better for them to stay separate. She still visited him when it was his turn with Bartie.

“Nah, I’m just looking at furniture for my restaurant.”

“Riley…”

“Please, Dani, stop. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ri, it’s been weeks. You’ve seen the lab results, Drake didn’t do anything wrong, he was tricked!”

“I know. And this is why I shouldn’t be with him.”

“That makes no sense.” Dani shook her head.

Riley swallowed hard before blurting out, “we both will be safer that way.”

Dani turned to her and sat down on the bed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… It’s better for us if we’re not together.”

“But–”

“I tried to love my parents but they didn’t care about me. I loved my grandma and she left me. I… liked Drake and he got drugged. I just… I need to accept the fact that I should be alone.”

“This is nonsense! Riley, people–”

“Dani, please. I made my decision. I just wish Drake would hate me already. It’d be easier for us.” She said quietly. Drake tried to talk to her, call her but she wouldn’t answer back. She expected him to give up but he never did. Never… until this week. It was Thursday and he hadn’t called for the whole week. Riley wasn’t sure if what she felt was a relief or a hearbreak.

Dani shook her head. She loved her sister but couldn’t understand her. The only thing she knew was that she couldn’t fix her sister’s relationship. She had to do it herself.

Dani had been meeting up with Liam for the past few weeks, trying to figure out the way to bring Drake and Riley together but nothing seemed to work. Nothing because Riley was too stubborn.

She looked at her phone and read a message from Liam.

“You’re smiling like an idiot. Is it Liam?” Riley asked and Dani looked at her sister innocently.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I need to go though. And I might pick up some coffee to wake me up,” she added.

“What’s up with you and coffee? You always hated it!”

“I never hated it, it just always made me feel like I was having a heart attack. But I’ve been so tired recently that coffee is the only thing that keeps me awake.”

“Man, you must be pretty stressed,” Riley murmured and went back to scrolling.

“Yeah, well, my sister is now living with me because she had an argument with her husband, my brother-in-law was drugged and my father is sending me to law school. I guess I am _pretty_ stressed,” she answered and her eyes widened in horror. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound so passive aggressive. I’m just _really_ tired.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t know about the law school. Why did you agree? You hate law!”

“Do you remember the last time I tried to disagree with father? This is why.”

“Dani… Maybe you should talk to him. And stop caring so much about everything. It only makes you sick!”

“Someone has to care,” Dani replied and. Riley sighed.

“You know… Not everything that’s weighing you down is yours to carry.”

Dani looked at her, surprised, but Riley was already focused on her phone. She shook her head and left the room.

~~~~

“I talked to Drake, he’s ready to give up,” Liam told Dani as they were drinking coffee. “He’s tired of not knowing why Riley is acting the way she is acting.”

“I know, I’d be pretty frustrated too. But he can’t give up. Riley… is a mess. She has many issues she needs to figure out but I’m sure she’ll finally realize she wants to be with Drake.”

Liam sighed, “I just hope it won’t be too late.”

He took empty mugs and put them back on the drawer. Dani walked up to Liam’s desk and looked at his laptop.

“Is that the footage from Savannah and Betrand’s disappearance?” she asked and chucked when Liam raised an eyebrow. “Riley told me everything.”

“Yes. The first one is what our police found and the second one was lost but Madeleine’s detective found it and she gave it to us.”

“Madeleine, huh. And it’s not fake?” Dani asked as she watched the two videos carefully.

“Nope. The footage is legit. No editing, no photoshop, no–”

“NAILS!”

“No nails?” Liam asked. “No, that’s not what I meant.”

“No! I mean, look!” Dani took Liam’s hand and paused the video. “The first footage, they go in. Look at her nails,” she zoomed in a little. “Perfect manicure. Love the color though. I wish my father let me wear dark polish too.”

“Okay, manicure. What about it?”

“Look at the second video, the one taken an hour later. She has pretty much no polish on! Either her nails grow extremely fast or she chipped it _or_ …”

“Or?”

“Or the video was taken much later. Like, about three, four weeks later. Which would kinda explain why both of them look a bit stiff.”

Liam swallowed hard as he felt dizzy. He sat down and looked at Dani. “How did you even notice that?”

“I work in a bank, remember? Noticing the details is a part of my job. Plus, I’m kinda obsessed with dark manicure.”

“You’re wonderful, you know that?” Liam asked before realized he said it out loud. Dani blushed.

“Yes, well, umm, so that means… they were kept somewhere. And are alive. Or at least _were_ so the video could have been taken.”

“Seems like it,” Dani nodded.

“And if you say her manicure was around a month old, it’s the time between us finding out they are gone and Drake’s outburst at Madeleine in the court.”

Dani’s face lit up. “That’d make perfect sense, she recorded the video so Drake would stop suspecting they’re still in Karlington!”

“I need to call Drake.”

“And I’ll call Riley!”

A whole thirty minutes later, Drake was watching the footage with his fists clenched and anger written all over his face. Riley was seated in the other corner of the room, comparing pictures of Savannah’s hand that Liam quickly printed.

“I hate them. I HATE THEM!” Drake hit the table, spilling the tea from his mug. “I’m gonna make them pay for what they did to my sister. THIS BI–”

“Drake!” Liam raised his voice. “Please. I know you’re angry but–”

“Angry? Just angry? I am furious and I’m going to show this little spoiled brat what–”

“Drake! She can’t know we know or everything will get lost,” Liam explained and Drake sat down, breathing heavily. “We need more evidence. Her manicure is not really gonna be enough,” Dani added, offering him a fresh cup of tea.

“So what, I’m supposed to sit and do nothing?”

“Not nothing, just acting as if everything is normal so we can gather more evidence.”

“I can’t do that, my sister might still be alive and she’s in danger!”

“Oh my gosh, Drake, just sit your ass down and stop making a bigger mess!” Riley yelled, stunning everyone.

“Why are you so mad? What do you want from me?!” Drake asked, raising his voice Dani flinched.

“A divorce,” she answered, quietly this time.

“Great then, because that’s exactly what I want too. Who needs a wife who doesn’t even care about her husband being drugged. Liam, divorce us _now_.”

Liam’s eyes widened and he looked at Dani who only shook her head ‘no’.

“I-I can’t can’t,” he said and Dani showed him a thumb up.

“What do you mean you can’t? You said you’d annul our marriage!” Riley inquired.

Liam looked at Dani again, panicking, and Dani started showing him some strange gestures. He shook his head to let her know he didn’t understand but Riley noticed that and looked at her sister as well. Dani quickly stopped gesturing and looked up at the ceiling, pretending to be admiring it.

“Because… a new law has just been introduced!” Liam lied and nodded his head as if to make it more believeable. Riley narrowed her eyes.

“New law? About divorce?” Drake asked, confused.

“Yes, new divorce law. It says that the couple has to be married for at least a year before annuling their marriage. Sorry guys, my hands were tied.”

“Aren’t you the King?” Riley asked.

“Umm, yes but… but…”

“The referendum!” Dani cut in. “Liam couldn’t do much, the nobles voted him out!”

“Exactly!” Liam nodded.

Drake looked puzzled and Riley was looking between Liam and Dani.

“Right,” she said. “Anyway, I gotta go. Let me know if you find out something!”

“The in-depth analysis of the footage should be tomorrow,” Liam told her and she nodded in understanding before leaving.

“Well, I should be going too,” Drake said and started heading out.

“She still cares a lot about you, you know,” Dani said and Drake turned to her. He looked conflicted.

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“You two will be fine, I know it. Just give her time, please,” she asked and Drake nodded slowly, before exiting the office.

“That was close,” Liam whispered after a few minutes of silence.

“Too close. But good thinking with the new law!”

“Good thinking with the referendum! We make a good team, don’t we?” he smiled softly at her and she retured the gesture. He felt his heart skipping a beat a little.

_Stop it. It’s not gonna happen, stop hoping for it like an idiot._

~~~~

“Are you _sure_ you really can’t go?” Riley asked her sister for the tenth time that day.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I feel too sick,” Dani rasped. She was lying in her bed, feeling miserable.

“And this is not just an excuse so I’ll be there with Drake?” Riley raised an eyerbow.

“Liam will be there as well. I wanted to come, I promise. I just feel terrible.”

“Well… Okay. Feel better soon, then,” Riley hugged her sister and headed out, leaving Dani alone.

Dani groaned as she buried her face in the pillow. She was lying for a few hours, mindlessly watching funny videos of dogs online when someone knocked on the door.

“Come in,” she answered, assuming it was either Riley or her parents.

“Hi.”

She sat straight immediately after hearing his voice. Seeing Liam there, in her hotel room, while being in her pajamas, was the last thing she expected to happen that day.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to cover herself with the comforter. Despite the fact that Liam had seen her naked before, she still felt weird about him seeing her like _that_.

“Riley told me you are sick so… I wanted to check on you,” he smiled at her sheepishly. “I also brought soup that my mom used to make for me and it always made me feel better.”

“Thank you, that’s so… thoughtful,” she smiled at him, trying to swallow a giant lump that was formed in her throat. There was a King in her hotel room. A King who just brought her a soup because she felt sick. And she was in her pajamas that had little Mickey mouse faces all over it.

While Dani was internally panicking, Liam took out the jar with the soup and heated it a little in the microwave.

“Be careful, it’s hot,” he warned her as she took the jar from his hands. He sat down next to her when she was eating the soup and filled her with everything he found out after the analysis. It felt almost strange. Nice but… strange. It felt cozy. It felt home. It felt dangerously good and Dani was scared.

At some point, Dani finished the soup and lay down for a bit and Liam joined her. They were lying on her bed together, on two different sides on her small bed, both silently looking at the ceiling, their index fingers intertwined.

No words were exchanged but the silence still felt good. And if only they could hear each other’s thoughts, they’d be surprised at how similar there were.

_I know I’m not perfect, I know I made a lot of mistakes but please, let me stay in Cordonia with him. Let something happen so I can stay here with him. Give me a sign, anything. I can’t imagine not being here._

_I’m so ungrateful, I know. I know I shouldn’t be asking for this but please. Please, make something happen so that she stays here. Anything so that we could be together. I know I probably don’t deserve this but I’ll do everything to make her happy. I can’t imagine being without her._


	16. SIXTEEN

“Oh no,” Drake muttered as he smelled something burning. “No, no, not my bacon. Not again.”

He quickly ran to the kitchen and took the frypan away from the stove. He wasn’t sure why but he had been burning his bacon every single day since Riley left. No matter for how long he was frying it, it always came out burned. And he blamed Riley for it. He blamed Riley for everything.

Drake poured himself coffee and put the bacon on top of his sandwich. Burned or not, he still needed food.

Ever since Riley left, he felt his life was falling apart. Again. This time was much worse though because he knew what it felt like to be happy, and now he lost it.

He didn’t understand her. He tried to hate her but he couldn’t. He knew she had some issues but he was pissed she would rather run away instead of talking to him.

“Who am I kidding,” the talked to himself, “I don’t talk about my feelings, I’d probably run off as well.”

And he hated how he understood Riley that well. He hated it.

He bit his bacon sandwich which tasted like broken dreams and he heard someone knocking on the door. Without hesitation, he threw the rest of the meal to the trash can and went to open the door.

“Mr Walker, I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“No, not all all, come on it,” Drake let the guest in and closed the door after him. He was a bit surprised his lawyer would visit him in person instead of calling him and started panicking that something had happened.

“Is everything okay?” he asked nervously.

“Nothing new about your sister, sir. But there is something I thought needed to be discussed, in person.”

“Go ahead,” he let the lawyer talk.

“Mr and Mrs Beaumont filed for full custody again, arguing that you and your wife, Mrs Walker, are separated and the child needs a full family.”

“I knew she was going to do it! It was her plan all along” Drake hit the wall with his fist.

“That’s not all… Mr Beaumont found an official document in his office signed by Mr Bertrand Beaumont and his wife, Savannah, stating that in case of something happening to them, it is Mr and Mrs Beaumont who should be legal guards of Bartie.”

“The… WHAT?!” Drake’s eyes windened.

“Mr Beaumont said he had forgotten about the document his son gave to him because he didn’t believe something would happen. Now that they found it… They are going to use it against you. And with your current situation, they have at least ninety percent of winning. If not more.”

“My sister, would NEVER sign such thing. NEVER,” Drake hissed.

“The document is legal and the signatures have not been faked. I brought a copy for you so you can familarize yourself with the content. I’m really sorry.” The lawyer handed him the document and Drake stared blankly at it. It was indeed, his sister’s signature. She had the worst handwriting and Drake could always tell what was written by her. And that document right there was most certainly signed by her. He sighed.

“Thank you, Mr Collins. I’ll contact my wife and let her know about it too.”

“I’m sorry I had to bring such bad news. I wish you two the best,” the older man smiled sadly and headed out, leaving Drake alone with his thoughts.

~~~~

“Maybe I should help you with that,” Riley frowned when Dani almost fell while carrying her bag.

“I’m fine. I think I just need some sleep, I haven’t been able to sleep properly for weeks. I just need to finish packing.”

“You’re not leaving until like, next week.”

“Yeah but I’d rather be prepared. I hate last minute packing,” Dani answered and suddenly felt dizzy again. “Okay, maybe I do need a break.”

“Dude, you should see a doctor. Or at least call your doctor from back home. Maybe she’ll give you something to calm you down or make you sleep again. I’m worried.”

“I’m fine. I’ll be better soon, I always get sick before starting a new job or school.”

“Taking some chill pills won’t make it worse and can help so please, at least consider it,” Riley insisted and her sister smiled at her.

“I promise.”

Riley took the bag from Dani and put it back on her bed. Her phone started ringing and she froze seeing Drake’s name on the screen.

“Hello?” she picked it up hesitantly, for the first time in weeks.

“Riley? I mean, yes, I know it’s you, thank you for answering, _finally,_ ” he said and she sighed. She deserved that. “I need you to come here to see something, it’s urgent.”

“Drake… I don’t think it’s a good–”

“I said it was urgent. I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t. Don’t worry, I don’t want to see you either but it’s something about Savannah, Bertrand and Bartie.”

“Oh,” her heart sank. “Okay. If– If it’s about them then I’ll come,” before she finished talking, Drake already hung up. She swallowed hard knowing she deserved that. She deserved the worst after what she did to Drake.

“You’re going to talk to Drake?” Dani asked, suddenly feeling and looking much better.

“Yes, apparently something’s wrong with the whole Savannah thing. Come with me?”

“Umm, no? I’m sick, remember?” Dani covered herself with a blanket. “Besides, it is between the two of you. You are still married after all.”

“Please, I don’t want to be there alone with him,” Riley pouted but Dani only raised an eyebrow.

“Good, maybe you’ll finally deal with it like a grow-up woman you are!”

“Ugh, fine. But you’ll call a doctor to get some pills, ‘kay?”

“’Yes, sir!” Dani smiled and waved Riley goodbye as her sister left. She took out her phone and stared at it for a few moments.

“I hate making phone calls,” she murmured to herself, “why can’t my doctor just answer text messages?”

She thought a for a few minutes about what she needed to say and typed everything in bullet points on her phone. Only then did she finally dial the number.

~~~~

Drake was studying Riley’s face as she was reading the document for the third time. She looked just as confused as he was when he first got the paper.

“And Barthelemy said he just found it?”

“Yeah, apparently he forgot about it and now that they filed for custody again, he conveniently found it,” Drake shook his head.

“And the lawyer said it was a legit document?”

“Yes. And I can tell that Sav’s signature is definitely hers, she has the messiest handwriting. And her ‘a’s are the weirdest.”

“So… Maybe the document is legit? Maybe they really wanted Bart and Maddy to have Bartie? I mean, it was their son after all.”

“You really believe that? After all Madeleine did, you still think it’s all legit?!”

Riley sighed and rubbed her temples. “Maybe we’re just reading too much into it. You said it yourself, this is Savannah’s handwriting. The document is legit, what else do you need to believe it?”

“Are you serious right now?” Drake was losing his patience.

“I am but you’re not. If Savannah and Betrand thought their son should be with the Beaumonts then who are you to question it? Honestly, at least Bart has some experience with kids,” she added and quickly bit her lip, realizing she might have said too much.

Drake narrowed his eyes, “And what does that mean?”

“It means that you didn’t even know how to hold Bartie properly when I first saw you with him. It means that maybe they truly want the best for Bartie.”

“And you believe that?”

“Yeah…” she answered but she wasn’t convinced either.

“You know what? Great. Let’s just get that stupid annulment so I don’t have to see you again, let me give Bartie to the enemies who most likely killed my sister and let me just stay here alone.”

“Drake…”

“Just… go.” Drake shook his head and went to the kitchen, leaving Riley in the living room.

She sighed as she took her purse. She took a one more look at the document studying everything in detail, like Dani would. She went to the kitchen and handed Drake the document.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I really hope you’ll find Savannah, she seemed like a great person. And she had a lovely middle name.”

“What?” Drake turned to her, surprised. “What middle name?”

“Helena. I think…”

“Helena? Savannah’s middle name is not Helena. She doesn’t have one!”

“But… I think I saw it right though? Here,” she pointed to Savannah’s signature. Drake’s eyes widened when he read the messy ‘Savannah Helena Beaumont’.

“I don’t understand,” he murmured. He didn’t pay too much attention to it before, still being shocked but now that Riley pointed it out he carefully analyzed it. “Savannah doesn’t have a middle name! None of us have. My mom said middle names are only a problem cause you never know where to use both of your names.”

“Maybe you just weren’t aware of it,” Riley suggested but Drake shook his head.

“No. She doesn’t have a middle name. But this is her handwriting, how–,” he started and his face paled when he saw something.

“No.”

“What happened?” Riley asked as her phone started ringing.

“It doesn’t say ‘Helena’ it says ‘Helpme’!”

“WHAT?!” Riley raised her voice, as she tried to ignore he sister calling.

“Sav had the worst handwriting but I can read it, pretty sure, I’m the only who can. It says ‘help me.’ She must be alive, she must have been forced to sign it and it wasn’t found in Bart’s office.”

“You need to tell Liam. And don’t confront Madeleine, she can’t know we know anything,” Riley said and Drake nodded. Dani kept on calling so Riley finally answered the phone.

“Dani, can I call you back? I’m a bit busy.”

“Riley?” Her sister’s voice was shaky and Riley started feeling nervous. “I—I’m sorry but can you come please? It’s… It’s urgent and I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m coming,” she said before throwing her phone into her bag. “Talk to Liam, I need to go to my sister.”

“Drake only nodded absent-mindedly, reading the document over and over again, trying to find more clues.

~~~~

“Dani? Dani! I’m here, what–” Riley started but didn’t finish as she saw her sister’s pale face. She looked scared and was shaking.

“Dani? What happened?”

“I-I called the doctor and told her everything and she told me to… and I did and–” Dani stopped to take a deep breath before taking something out of the drawer.

“And?” Riley asked, her heart beating faster than it should.

“I’m pregnant.”


	17. SEVENTEEN

“What?” Riley asked, her eyes windened. Did she hear that right?

“I’m pregnant,” Dani repeated and handed Riley a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test.

“Are you–”

“Sure?” Dani finished the question for her sister before pulling out ten different tests from the drawer, all positive. “Yeah. Pretty sure.”

“You took all of these?” Riley stared at all of them, her eyes wide in shock.

“Yes. My doctor suggested that after asking if I slept with someone lately.”

“Well then… I mean… I’m happy for you, that’s what you wanted, right? You always wanted a baby.”

“I did, I _do_ , yes but I’m not even married. And I’m supposed to start a law school in three weeks. My father will kill me.”

“He will not, come on. Besides, you wouldn’t be the first pregnant student in the history. But you need to tell your boyfriend soon.”

“My what?” Dani blinked in a surprise.

“Boyfriend? The father of your baby? I assume you left him in New York?”

“I don’t have any boyfriend in New York!” Dani protested.

“Oh? Then who–”

“It’s Liam’s.”

“No, that’s impossible,” Riley commented. “He can’t have kids. It must have been someone else.”

“Riley Adelicia Brooks, I have not slept with anyone but Liam in the past few years so I am _pretty_ sure it is his.”

“But he’s infertile! He can’t have kids!”

“He… what?” Dani asked.

“The whole reason why Madeleine broke up with him was because he couldn’t have kids. He was tested and all.”

“Well, then either the test was fake or I’m carrying a miracle baby.”

Riley stayed silent for a few minutes, processing her thoughts. What if… Madeleine did fake the test? It was her idea to get Liam tested in the first place.

“You need to tell Liam,” Riley finally spoke.

“Oh heck no! And you’re not telling him either!”

“What? He has to know!”

“I need to overthink it first!” Dani yelled. “Sorry, it’s the hormones. Anyway, please, don’t tell Liam. I’m leaving very soon and I will tell him at some point but… not now. It’s only going to complicate things even more.”

“But Dani… If you told him you were pregnant, he could get tested again and then we’d have another bit of evidence against Madeleine’s schemes.”

“No, Riley,” Dani shook her head. “Please, whatever you’ll tell Liam, don’t say anything about my pregnancy. Please,” she begged.

“You’ll have to talk to him at some point either way,” Riley shrugged.

“Says the woman who couldn’t talk to her husband for weeks,” Dani narrowed her eyes.

“That’s not… the same situation.”

“Of course it’s not. In my case I just need some time before saying anything so life-changing while in your case, you can’t talk to your _husband_ after he was _drugged_ and he had _no one_ to talk to because his wife decided she was bringing him bad luck and wanted to file for divorce.”

“Gosh, you’re mean when you’re pregnant,” Riley rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to argue. For one, she didn’t want to argue with a pregnant woman but also, she knew Dani was right. She did have to talk to Drake. She wanted to but she was scared.

“I’m not going to say a word to Liam but I still need to tell him to get tested again. Are you coming with me?” Riley asked and Dani shook her head.

“No, I can’t—I can’t see him, not yet. I need to digest everything because my mind is just a whole lot of mess right now.”

“Call me if you need anything. And you gotta tell him, okay?”

Dani nodded at her sister. “Once I’m already in the States,” she murmured when Riley left. What if Liam wanted to take the baby? She didn’t want to give him her baby but she also wanted him to a part of their life. Him being a King complicated a lot of things and Dani felt her head spinning as she tried to think everything through.

~~~~

“Why did you call?” Drake asked, when he finally reached the palace.

“I need to tell you something important but Liam can’t hear this. Dani’s pregnant,” she said, taking a deep breath and anticipating his reaction but he just nodded.

“Okay. Congratulations. You could’ve just messaged me that but okay.”

“No, you don’t understand! She is pregnant with _Liam’s_ baby!”

“What?” Drake’s eyes widened. “That’s not possible, you saw the test results!”

“I did but Dani said he was the only person she… You know! And it got me thinking… what if it was just another scheme from Madeleine? If Liam gets tested again and it turns out he can have kids after all then–”

“It would give Madeleine no reason to break up with him, which means she must have known the results of his tests before he did.”

“Exactly,” Riley smiled.

“We need to tell Liam!” Drake started walking towards the main entrance when Riley took his hand.

“No, wait! I promised Dani I won’t tell Liam about the pregnancy. She has to do it and she’s not ready yet. Let’s tell Liam what we suspect but without telling him about Dani, okay?”

Drake nodded, “Okay. If… you say so.”

“And Drake,” she added and bit her lip. “How—how are you?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You know, with Savannah and the whole Kiara drugging you situation,” she looked down, too afraid to meet his eyes.

“Why do you care now?”

“I always did… I was just scared,” she mumbled and Drake had to guess what she was saying.

“You show fear in a funny way,” he ran his hand through his hair. “What were you scared about? It was me who got drugged.”

“Because… you were drugged because of me. Since Kiara did it to break the two us, if I wasn’t in the picture, you would never get drugged. Nothing would happen,” she explained, still looking at the ground.

“It wasn’t your fault! It wasn’t anyone’s fault! Why would you even think that? And can you finally look at me, for crying out loud?” Drake took Riley’s face into his hands and looked at her. She had tears in her eyes which she tried to blink back.

“Because when I finally was living happily with my grandma, she died. Because when I was happy at home, my parents told me I need to find a place to live because I’m only a parasite. Because if being close to you means you getting hurt, I’d rather stay away.”

“Riley… That’s… That’s… Stupid,” he commented. “You parents are crappy no matter if you’re happy or not. And what happened to me wasn’t because of you but because of Madeleine.”

“I’m… sorry,” she breathed and Drake’s expression softened.

“Riley, I–”

“Excuse me, are you coming in or not?” A guard who was observing them from the entrance interrupted them.

“Coming in!” Riley answered and the two of them entered the palace.

~~~~

“Once again, why do you think I should get tested again? Wasn’t the first time painful enough?” Liam asked after Riley explained to him what she thought could be Madeleine’s scheme.

“Because it could be a fake result! Madeleine literally forced Savannah and Bertrand to sign her stupid document, she is capable of faking the results as well.”

“But my fertility?” He blushed a little saying it out loud. “Why are you even bringing it out again?”

“Umm, you know, just… thinking about everything that’s happened, that’s all,” Riley lied, biting her lip.

“You’re lying, I can see that.”

“Who’s lying?” Drake asked entering the office. He left Riley and Liam alone for some time, to ask Bastien about something.

“Riley. I see it in her eyes,” Liam narrowed his eyes and Riley shifted in her chair uncomfortably.

“Did you get what you wanted, Drake?” she changed the subject.

“I did. I’m going to hide these litte cameras in Bartie’s shirt pockets and this recorder inside his teddy bear. Hopefully, Maddy will say something that would help us get the evidence we need.”

“Do you believe that?” Riley asked skeptically.

“I have to, it’s our only chance right now.”

“Well…in that case, since we have everything covered… I gotta go check on my sister. See you, guys!”

“Riley!” Liam stopped her. “What is happening?”

“What do you mean?”

“You are tense and you can’t even look at me. What happened? Is… Is something wrong with Danielle?” he asked and his voice was full of concern.

“No! Everything is great with her, what are you asking?”

Liam shrugged slighly. “She hasn’t been answering my calls or messages today. Or yesterday. I thought something might have happened,” he added quietly and Riley’s heart sank a little. She thought how her not talking to Drake made everything worse and how her sister was doing the same.

“If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Dani?”

“I promise.”

“Dani is… She just found out she’s pregnant,” Riley blurted out and bit her lip. _I hope Dani won’t kill me_.

Liam’s face fell and he felt like his heart broke into milion pieces. The room was spinning around him as he sat down on a chair, trying to swallow the lump in his throat.

“Oh,” he said. “My sincere congratulations to your sister. She must be overjoyed. She and her… umm, parnter. I am very happy for them.”

“Liam…”

“I’m afraid I need to go, I have a meeting now, but I will contact you later.”

“Liam! The baby is yours.” Riley said and Liam’s eyes widened.

“No… That’s not… I can’t have kids! Please, Riley, stop saying this, I can’t have kids!” Liam had tears in his eyes and Riley’s heart sunk.

“This is why we asked you to get tested again… You are the only man she slept with in years so…”

“I don’t understand, I don’t–” Liam felt dizzy. Was that real? Was his dream really coming true? _No, no, stop being so hopeful, you’ll only get disappointed._ And yet… He felt weirdly happy. Carefully happy. As if he could jump from happiness but also was ready to wake up from this beautiful dream at any moment.

“It’s defitely yours. She took eleven tests so we’re pretty sure about it,” Riley chuckled. “Just please, don’t tell her I told you! She wanted to tell you later but she’s very nervous about it.”

Liam only nodded and didn’t even notice when Riley and Drake left, Danielle and the baby being the only two things on his mind.

~~~~

Riley turned on the light in her restaurant and smiled. It was still empty as she only ordered tables and chairs a few days ago but the restaurant was already painted nicely and she was happy with how everything was coming together.

It was already ten, too late for her to be there but she couldn’t help it. Her and Drake decided she would spend the night in his cabin so they could fianally talk properly. They agreed on eleven and Riley still had at least an hour to admire her own place. It was beautiful despite being empty.

She put down her bags in the corner of the dining room and started walking around, looking at the freshly painted walls.

“Isn’t it too late to be working?” A voice startled her and she turn back to see Madeleine.

“Madeleine, hi,” she greeted her nervously. “Why are you here though? It’s late!”

Madeleine smiled and looked around. “I was curious about your restaurant. Couldn’t sleep at all and went for a drive. I saw the light here and I thought I’d see what is happening. I like how it’s turning out! Much better than that old stinky bar,” she commented.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be a bit different.”

“Can I see the rest?” Madeleine asked and without waiting for an answer she headed towards the kitchen.

“Wow, I love that!” She admired the thick metal door that led to the pantry.

“Thanks. There’s no windows in here and the door’s thick so the food inside stays good for much longer.

“You’re so smart!” Madeleine smiled and Riley shivered. “And the pantry is pretty big! So much storage!”

“Mhm, yes.”

“You look cold, my dear,” Madeleine noticed and took out a shawl from her purse. “You’re shivering.”

“No, I’m fine, just a bit tired.”

“I insist,” she put the shawl around Riley’s neck. “Only the best for my family.”

And then she put the shawl around her mouth and nose and Riley felt she couldn’t breathe. The shawl smelled bad, smelled like narcotics that Madeleine must have put on it. She didn’t even have the energy to fight, she felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier with each second. 

Madeleine held her firmly and the last thing Riley registered was Madeleine’s hot breath on her ear and her voice repeating the sentence, “Shhh, it’s all going to be over soon.”


	18. EIGHTEEN

“Ugh,” Dani turned in bed again. It was already past eleven; normally she would be fast asleep at that time but today she couldn’t fall asleep at all. She looked at her suitcases, all packed and ready for the trip to New York. She was leaving soon.

“I wonder how’s Riley and Drake doing,” she mumbled to herself. She was overjoyed when Riley told her she was going to spend the night with Drake, trying to fix their marriage. And then she remembered something.

“I forgot to ask Riley to bring me some cronuts when she comes back tomorrow!”

Dani jumped out of the bed and took her phone, dialing Riley’s number. She waited and waited, and then called again but no one answered.

“I’ll just send a message then,” she typed a message quickly, put her phone down and went back to bed. Twenty minutes later, she took her phone again and sighed, searching for that one name on her contacts list.

“I’ll just ask him to tell Riley to check her phone. I really need those cronuts,” she said to herself before starting a call. Drake answered a few seconds later.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Drake, I’m sorry I’m interrupting your night with Riley but can you please tell her to answer her phone? It’s… important,” she said thinking about the deliciousness of the cronuts.

“Sorry, Riley’s not here. She didn’t come.”

“What?” Dani’s eyes windened. “What do you mean she’s not there? She left the hotel before ten to visit you!”

“Well, she must have changed her mind. She’s not here,” Drake said nonchalantly.

“Drake. I don’t know what happened but she wanted to come. She was excited to come!”

“I’m sorry I can’t help you. She probably is somewhere running away from her problems. Goodnight, Dani.”

“No! Wait! Something must have happened! I feel it, she wouldn’t just not come and not tell me about it! And she’s not answering her phone!” Dani was practically yelling. “I really want those cronuts.”

“What cronuts?” Drake was confused. “Anyhow, don’t worry, she’s probably at her restaurant, avoiding me or you. Get some sleep, Dani.”

“No, Drake, please. Can you go and check if she’s really in her restaurant? What if–”

“Dani, I’m sure she’s fine. She didn’t want to come and that’s all. Goodnight.”

“Wait, Drake, I—AHHHH” Dani groaned.

“Dani? What happened? What is it?”

“I don’t know, I– AHHH, that hurts!” she flinched and started rubbing her belly.

“Is it… Is it the baby?” Drake asked and Dani could hear panic in his voice.

“Oh no, I hope not, oh my goose, what if it is the baby, oh my goose, oh my goose, oh my goose, where is Riley, I need Riley, I need– ahhhhh!”

“Okay, okay, just breathe!” Drake instructed. “I’ll be there in a few minutes okay? And in the meantime, just google your symptoms! Or wait, maybe not. Just hang in there, okay?”

“Mhm,” Dani nodded and ended the call. Maybe she overreacted a little but at least Drake was coming and she _needed_ to see if Riley is okay.

She put her hand on her belly and massaged it gently. Anytime she was stressed, she’d always have cramps. But Drake didn’t have to know it was stress. Though now that he mentioned the baby… Dani started stressing out even more.

“Little one, please, don’t worry, we’ll find your auntie,” she whispered, massaging her belly and praying that both, her baby and Riley, will be okay.

~~~~

Riley opened her eyes and narrowed them straight away. She looked around the pantry for Madeleine but she was there alone.

She tried to get up but her legs felt wobbly and she started coughing right when she moved even a little.

“What the–” she rasped, her throat sore and dry.

Slowly, she walked to the door but it was closed. She banged a few times but no one heard her.

“Oh no,” she remember that her phone was still in the dining room. She closed her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts when she smelled something.

Something… bad, really bad. Smoke… as if the restaurant was burning.

“She wouldn’t…” Riley said, knowing well that Madeleine was capable of everything. Besides, if Riley burned in her restaurant, no one would suspect Madeleine, unlike if she suffocated her. Riley cursed under her nose.

Her sister thought she was with Drake. And Drake would think she decided to ghost him. She cursed again.

It was only eleven thirty, no one would come here until at least… much later.

Riley started coughing again. She wished there was a window so she could get out but she wanted to make sure the products were fresh and didn’t want any windows in the pantry. There was nothing, except for a door leading to the restaurant… and the other door leading outside. Right. She forgot about that.

She wanted the delivery men to go straight to the pantry through that door, instead of walking across the whole restaurant.

Riley ran to the door and tried to open it but they didn’t even budge. It was a matter of minutes, maybe an hour max, before the fire would reach the pantry. The thick metal door wasn’t fireproof and Riley started losing hope. Madeleine must have noticed that Riley hadn’t installed the new fire alarm yet and Riley cursed again.

In the corner of her eyes she noticed a bottle of water, half empty, one of the workers must have left it there. She quickly took off her blazer, poured some water on it and put it on the floor, under the door so the smoke wouldn’t reach her, at least for a few more moments. Then she took her her shirt and poured water on it as well. She quickly made a mask for herself out of the wet shirt.

“Much better,” she thought to herself when she finally took a breath. She looked around and sighed with resignation.

“And now what?”

~~~~

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Drake asked concerned as Dani nodded.

“I am much better now, it’s the stress that made me feel so bad.”

“If you’re sure? Maybe I should drive you to the hospital? They would check if everything is okay?”

“I’m okay, Drake, really. I have an appointment tomorrow anyway. But there’s one thing you could to make me feel better.”

“Yes?”

“Can you take me to Riley’s restaurant? I just need to make sure she’s okay, for my own sanity. You won’t even have to go inside!”

“Dani…”

“Please! I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t check in with her!”

Drake sighed. “Fine, fine.”

It wasn’t because he was curious what happened to Riley, he just wanted to help Dani. Or so he tried to tell himself. A thousand scenarios in his head but there was only one way to find out.

~~~~

Riley was banging on the door for what felt like eternity. Someone must have heard her, right? People go for walks at eleven…sometimes. She fell down on the floor, resigned. She was safe here, in her little pantry but she knew she wouldn’t survive till morning. It didn’t matter anyway. Her whole future was burning there with her. She would never be a chef. She had a one-in-a-million chance and it just got ruined. She didn’t even get the chance to try to be chef. She didn’t even say goodbye to her sister. She didn’t even see her little nephew or niece. And the worst of it all.

She never told Drake she loved him.

And she did. She loved him even though she tried not to fall for him. Even though she tried to convince herself it wasn’t true.

But it was. She loved him.

Now, that everything was falling apart, she could finally admit it.

“I love you, Drake,” she whispered sadly and added, in between her coughs, “I’m sorry I’ll never tell you.”

She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable when she heard it.

Once, twice…

~~~~

Smoke. A lot of smoke.

Drake could barely see the restaurant because of the heavy smoke that looked like it was swallowing the building. He felt his heart skip a beat when he realized that maybe Dani was right after all and Riley was indeed inside.

“Riley!” Dani started yelling, running to the building and Drake ran after her and pulled her away.

“Call the F.D. and I’ll see how bad it is,” He told her and wainted until she promised to do so, before running straight into the building, his shirt covering his nose.

The restaurant was burning. And from the sight of a few empty gasoline containers he knew someone did that on purporse. His heart sank.

Riley’s car was right in front of the building.

No. _No._

He ran to the main entrance but it was completely burned. The flames were getting out of hand.

“Riley!” he cried out, hoping, _praying_ , she was okay. “RILEY!”

He walked around the building, remembering where all the emergency exits were and banging on each of them.

“RILEY!!!” he screamed once again as he heard the sirens from afar.

_Please, please, let her be okay._

“RILEY! RILEY!” he was running and screaming, not even caring about inhaling the smoke. He started coughing and felt a firefighter pulling him away from the smoke.

“We’ve got this, sir, please stand away.”

“My wife is inside! I need to get her!” he exaplained.

“We’ll get her. Please, stay away.”

Drake felt another hand on his shoulder and saw Liam, pulling him slightly away.

“They’ll get her, Drake. We can’t get inside.”

“But… But… Riley’s inside and I need to… I… Riley…”

“She’s going to be okay,” Liam whispered, his hand still firmly on his best friend’s shoulder.

“How did you know?”

“Danielle called. She was panicking and I was worried so I came here right after the Fire Department did.”

Drake nodded. He looked at the firefighters, trying to put out the fire and swallowed hard. Dani was crying as Liam held her close, whispering words of comfort.

 _I didn’t even tell her I love her_.

Drake closed his eyes, trying to calm down when something occurred to him.

“The pantry!”

Liam and Dani both looked at him with confusion.

“Riley persisted on having a separate door to the pantry, it’s in the back of the restaurant, maybe we can go inside through there?”

“I’ll tell the firefighters,” Liam said but before he did so, Drake sprinted to the pantry area on his own. The smoke wasn’t coming through the door and he prayed it was a good sign.

“Riley!! Riley!” he shouted as he banged the door. He leaned his head on the door, resigned and tired when he heard it. The faintest whisper but it belonged to her. His Riley.

“Drake…”

“Riley! We’ll get you out of here, just hold on!”

He started kicking the door with all his strength.

“What are you doing?” Liam asked, running after him. “They were able to go inside through the main door.”

“But Riley’s in the pantry,” Drake said in between kicks, “and they won’t go in there because Riley has extermaly thick door leading to it.”

Liam nodded and started kicking the door with him, no questions asked. After a few moments, the door budged slightly. As Liam was still kicking, Drake tried to open it with his hands, pulling it and pushing, until finally the door broke open.

“Riley!” Drake noticed his wife, lying on the floor with a shirt around her face and quickly ran up to her. He heard Liam yelling for paramedics to come as he carried Riley out of the building.

The paramedics came and Dani right after them, still sobbing.

“Riley!” She yelled and tried to get to her sister but Liam stopped her.

“She’s going to be okay but she needs to be taken to hospital.”

“But… Riley, I need to see if she’s okay, I need to–”

“It’s going to be okay, I promise. Let the doctors help her.”

“But– But–” Dani breathed heavily.

“Danielle, please. It’s not good for the b–” he stopped himself but from the look Danielle gave him, he knew she understood. He waited for her to comment it somehow but she stayed silent.

She was silent when the paramedics took Riley, she was silent when the paramedics tried to stop Drake from yelling at them. She was silent when the fire was finally put out and when Drake drove to the hospital, after Riley. She stayed silent when Liam ordered his guards to monitor the area and stayed silent when he led her to his car and drove her back to her hotel.

“Danielle…” Liam started, not sure how to proceed.

“Thank you for the drive,” she said and got out of the car. He followed suit.

“Danielle… I’m sorry for what happened with Riley. Are you… Are you sure you’re going to be okay? Would you like…” he thought for a moment, “Would you like me to stay with you for a bit?”

“Thank you, Liam but I’ll be okay. I just need some sleep and then I’ll visit Riley tomorrow. Drake will be keeping me updated.” She smiled at him and started heading inside.

“Wait! Danielle, I– I just wanted to ask about, err, I mean…”

“You know, don’t you?” she asked and he let out a deep breath.

“I do. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you.”

“No… It’s… okay. I was going to tell you anyway, just needed some time to… get used to it,” she smiled sadly at him.

“How do you feel?”

“Good, for the most part. Just tired, sometimes nauseous. But good, happy. And… And you?”

“I feel very happy. I didn’t even think it was possible and now… You made me so happy, Danielle. You keep making me so happy.” He admitted, taking a few steps toward her.

“Danielle,” he started when he was just a few inches from her, “I never thought I’d ever feel this way about anyone. I thought I’d never have a family but you… You made me believe it was possible. It is possible. To love again, to feel… alive. I–” he took a deep breath before continuing, “I fell in love with you, Danielle Brooks. And if you’d like that, I would love you to stay here, with me, in Cordonia.”

“Liam…”

“I’d like to think you felt something for me, too,” he bit his lip nervously and Dani nodded slightly.

“You could live with me in the palace, we could raise our child there. We could get married,” he smiled, “If you would want that, of course.”

“Liam… I–”

“What I’m trying to say is, I love you, Danielle. I want you to be a part of my life. A big part of my life.”

Dani looked at him, her eyes widened. She took a step toward Liam but quickly took a step back.

“I– I am leaving in a few days, Liam,” she whispered. “I’m starting law school.”

“You don’t have to,” he said, stroking her cheek. “I know you didn’t want that.”

“I can’t break my father’s heart.”

_So instead you’re breaking mine?_

“What… are you saying?” he frowned.

“I can’t disappoint him again. Not… again.”

“Danielle, he’d understad! You’re expecting a child, he’ll know you can’t go to school now!”

“I won’t be the first pregnant student, Liam. I can do it.”

“Of course you can, but do you want to?”

“You don’t understand!” she raised her voice and Liam took a step back. “How do you think Riley was able to afford going to Europe and live here for months without having a well-paid job?”

“You parents give her money, don’t they?”

Dani laughed shaking her head. “They don’t. They didn’t care. I paid, Liam. I send her money from my parents’ account. My parents give me money because I’m doing when they want me to do and I’m giving the money to my sister so she can do what she wants!”

“I’m sure Riley would understand–”

“Our Nana told me to look after Riley. She knew our parents wouldn’t. If I don’t go to that school… both Riley and I will be without any money. I can’t do this to her. Not when her restaurant just burned.”

“Danielle, please…” he was losing her. He knew he was losing her. He was losing the only thing that kept him alive.

“I’m sorry Liam. I wish… things were different.”

“Danielle…”

“I will, of course, let you visit our child anytime you want but… he or she will stay with me. I’m sure… my parents will understand,” she said as if to convice herself. Without looking back, she disappeared inside the hotel, leaving heartbroken Liam alone.


	19. NINETEEN

Dani took a few deep breaths before she opened the door to her hotel room. She tried not to think about what just happened with Riley and then with Liam; she couldn’t be so stressed all the time. It would be bad for the baby.

“Finally! What were you thinking to go out at one in the morning?”

She looked surprised at her parents; her mother was sitting on her bed and her father stood in the doorway, looking angry.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“What are _you_ doing at one o’clock out?” her father hissed. Her mother seemed unmoved.

“Riley had an accident. She was locked in a building that was burning; Drake and I went to see what happened and got her out,” she explained thinking she should probably omit the conversation she had with Liam.

“That still doesn’t explain why you were up that late? You sleep schedule is important! Discipline is important!”

“Dad, Riley could’ve died!”

“But she didn’t, did she?”

“No, because Drake and I—”

“Now, that’s just great! You’re friends with her husband that she never told us about! What is happening with you, girl?!” He rubbed his temples and Dani went silent for a moment.

“Why are you up at this hour?” she asked calmly.

“I saw you leaving the hotel, you weren’t answering your phone. I wanted to make sure you’d hear what I think about such behavior.”

“Maybe… that’s good that you’re here. I need to tell you something,” she bit her lip slightly.

“You’re not thinking about not going to law school again?” her dad narrowed his eyes and Dani shook her head.

“No, Daddy. I will go to law school but there’s something else. I’m… I’m pregnant.”

“You’re _what_?” her father’s eyes widened but her mother still looked unmoved.

“Pregnant. With child, I—”

“PREGNANT? How could you be pregnant, you’re not even married yet! I can’t believe it! We came here to check on your sister, and you go out with strangers and get pregnant like a cheap—” he composed himself and took a few breaths. “You were supposed to go to law school. How could you do this to me?”

“At least her boobs will be big now,” her mother finally spoke but both, Dani and her father, ignored her.

“I can still go! I promise it’s not going to ruin our plans!”

“And what man will even look at you now? You ruined everything!”

“Daddy, please. I can fix it!” she said and her father looked at her, a strange smile on his face.

“You’re right.” He said and Dani smiled relieved. “You just made a mistake, we all make them. And mistakes can be fixed. You can still go to school and find a wealthy husband.”

“Of course I can! My child is not going to be an obstacle or—”

“No, Dani. I said mistakes can be fixed. It’s not too late to fix that as well.”

“What… what are you talking about?” Dani looked at him confused as she took a few steps back.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re not ready to be a mother. You have a future ahead of you. I know a few doctors that could take care of that… mistake you made.”

“WHAT?!”

“Calm down, I’ll pay for everything. Maybe you’ll be even able to start the school on time.”

“You… You want me to… get rid of my baby?”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Dani. It’s not a baby, it’s a problem. I’m doing a huge favor for you. You’ll thank me one day.”

“But…” she stuttered. Was she dreaming? “I can keep the baby! And still do all these things you have planned for me!”

Her father looked at her with something unreadable in his eyes. “Let me set this straight. If you keep this _baby_ you can forget about the school, about your job, about your home and about us, is that clear?”

“Are you making me choose between my baby and you?” she asked.

“Not just us. If you don’t do as I tell you, you are kicked out of the house, out of the job, and school. I will not give you any money so have fun raising your _child_ homeless and without any money.”

Dani swallowed hard as her heart begun to race. She felt as if she was going to faint. Or throw up.

_This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening._

“Think, Dani, think. Are you really that stupid to sacrifice everything for a one night stand?”

Dani wanted to scream. Wanted to cry out all her frustrations, all her pain. How could her own father do this to her? She took a deep breath and tried to calm down her shaking body.

“Well,” she started, looking at her father, “I see I have no choice, then.”

~~~~

Riley was waking up every thirty minutes. Every thirty minutes she realized she wasn’t in her room. Every thirty minutes she remembered what happened. And every thirty minutes, she noticed that Drake was still there, holding her hand, and calming her down.

Every time she had a nightmare, Drake listened to her patiently and waited for her to fall asleep again. She wasn’t sure if he got any sleep that night at all, he was always awake, ready to help her.

When she woke up one time crying, Drake held her hand tightly and sang her quietly a lullaby he must have learned from his mother. He kept promising her better days, he kept assuring her everything was going to be okay. He promised her to never leave her again.

And then, when she woke up at eight in the morning, after a tiring night, Drake was still there, still holding her hand, his eyes closed, and Riley knew she wouldn’t want to leave him again either.

~~~~

“Bastien, what happ—” Liam started as he opened the door, in the middle of the night and noticed his guard and right beside him… Danielle.

“Danielle? What are you doing here, is something wrong?” he asked as he took in her tear-stained face and disheveled look.

“Can we talk?” she asked, her voice high as if she was about to start crying again.

“Of course, come in. Thank you Bastien,” he nodded at him guard and closed the door. Liam didn’t even opened his mouth when Danielle threw her hands around his neck and started crying.

“Danielle… Shhh, what happened? I’m here, I’m here.”

“My parents… They told me to… to abort the baby,” she sniffed and Liam froze, “or else they’ll kick me out of the house and I’ll lose my job, my money and everything and—” she didn’t finish as she started sobbing again.

Liam had never felt angrier. He put his arms around Danielle as gently as he could and kissed her forehead. “What did you do?” he asked hesitantly.

“I left. I told them I wanted to keep the baby. My baby.” She sniffed and added after a moment. “I might have yelled at them a little. But only a little bit.”

Liam chuckled as he pulled her closer. “I’m sorry your parents are so awful. I’m sorry they treated you like this.”

“I’m scared, Liam. I have no home, no friends, no money, no job. I can’t even go back to New York now because my parents have my ticket!”

“Danielle…” he looked her in the eyes. “Stay here. With me. We’ll figure this out.”

She shook her head, “I can’t Liam, not after what I said to you.”

“I love you, Danielle. I want you in my life, you and our baby,” he smiled at the mention of their child. “Even if you don’t share my feelings, I will not let you be homeless. I promise I’ll take care of you, of both of you.”

“Liam, I—” she shook her head. “I don’t deserve you. Not after what I said and—”

“I love you,” he repeated and Danielle finally looked at him as well. Wordlessly, she snuggled against him and let out a relieved sigh. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe, right there in his arms. Whatever was supposed to come… she had him. And he had her.

Some time later, when Danielle was finally asleep, in his arms, he took out his phone and called Bastien.

“Yes, sir?”

“I want you to bring Danielle and Riley’s parents to the palace tomorrow evening. Don’t tell them anything, just that they the King wants to talk to them.”

“Of course, sir. May I ask for the reason why you want them to come?”

“They are accused of treason… against the royal heir.”

~~~~

“Drake, I promise I’m feeling fine.” Riley groaned when he insisted on carrying her to his car. She was discharged from the hospital very early, as the doctors saw no damage on her health. She was fine and Drake almost started jumping out of joy when he heard that. The doctor said she was rescued on time, otherwise she might have had some serious problems. Drake didn’t even want to think about it.

“You were in an accident,” he said and Riley rolled her eyes.

“Yes, but you saved me and I’m okay now. I can walk, you know?”

In response, Drake only narrowed his eyes but didn’t let go of her. She knew he was very protective of people he loved and cared about and she felt warm inside at mere thought that maybe she was one of those people as well.

She decided not to protest even when Drake carried her all the way to their bedroom, not even when he helped her change her clothes. She did protest a little when Drake insisted on helping her in the bathroom but realizing how worried he must have been last night, she let him do whatever he wanted to ease his concerns.

“Drake?” she asked when they were both lying in bed, watching a movie.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you. For saving me and for everything. I’m… I’m sorry about how I acted when the whole Kiara thing happened.”

Drake turned to her and swallowed hard. “I… It was Dani, to be honest. She… asked me to check if you were okay. I thought you didn’t want to talk to me,” he admitted. He felt guilty about it and hated himself for thinking that way while Riley was fighting for her life.

“You… couldn’t know,” she answered. “I don’t blame you, okay? Don’t blame yourself, Drake.”

“But… you could’ve died. And I would be here, at home, mad at you for not showing up,” he clenched and unclenched his fist.

“Drake…” she started as she took his hand into hers. “I jumped to conclusions when I saw you with Kiara, I was wrong too. Except that you had every right to think that since I was avoiding you before.”

Drake didn’t say anything, instead he started at the TV screen mindlessly.

“Maybe… we can forget what happened, okay? And start from the beginning?” she suggested and he finally looked at her.

“We’re married, Riley. Not sure how that can count as a beginning.”

“We were married long before we started liking each other so I wouldn’t say that’s a problem.”

He smiled slightly and Riley leaned down to kiss him. His smile was much wider when she pulled away.

“That’s not how beginnings works,” he commented and she chuckled.

“This is exactly how _our_ beginning works.”

Left without any more arguments, Drake kissed Riley again, and then again and again, happy to be in each other’s arms, safe and with a future to look forward to.

~~~~

“Good morning,” Danielle turned to see Liam already awake, smiling down at her. It took her a few moments to remember why she was in his bedroom and not her hotel room anymore.

“Morning,” she answered.

“I have a few meetings in the morning but you can stay here. Or I can ask Bastien to give you a separate room if you prefer,” he bit his lip slightly, wanting her to choose the first option.

“I can stay here, if that’s okay with you,” she said and Liam tried to hide his big smile.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “Now that I know everything is okay with Riley, I’m okay.”

Before falling asleep, Dani got a message from Drake telling her that Riley was in good health and was getting discharged that morning. As much as she couldn’t wait to visit her sister, she also knew she needed some time with Drake.

“Would you like to—” Liam started when someone knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for the answer.

“I’m sorry sir but I have some news. One of the lab workers admitted that someone paid to have your results switched with Madeleine’s.”

“Which means… I can have kids and she doesn’t?”

“Precisely. Someone must have also threatened him because he was very nervous to talk about it.”

“Madeleine.” Liam said and felt getting angrier until Danielle took his hand and squeezed it gently.

“That’s not everything, sir. Lady Riley didn’t have any fire alarm installed in her restaurant yet but she did have two cameras installed in the entrance, which Madeleine must have not noticed. Whatever she did to lady Riley was not registered but it is clear to see that she was the one that started the fire there.”

“We actually have a proof to put Madeleine in jail?” Danielle asked. After all this time, was it finally happening?

“More than that,” Bastien smiled. “It seems that she had a call from someone because it was also registered on the camera.”

“And?” Liam asked and Bastien called another guard in with a laptop in his hands. He hit play in the recording and Danielle and Liam came closer.

“Of course you didn’t!” They saw Madeleine with a container in the hall. The sound wasn’t as clear as the image but they could still hear what she was saying. “You’re useless as always! Now I have to take matters in my own hands!” She waited for the reply for a bit and then started talking again. “At least I can make it look like an accident! No one would ever know what happened.”

Danielle felt Liam’s hands squeezing hers this time and she nodded.

“You? Right! Look what you’ve done! If you’re so good at what you do, then why is everyone still looking for Bertrand and Savannah? Why no one believes us?” she listened to someone speaking before she opened her mouth again. “Oh yes, they believe us so much that they sent a guard to monitor Karlington. You’re right, they totally believe,” Madeleine rolled her eyes and opened the container with, what Liam assumed was gas. “Ugh! Just don’t do anything until I tell you so! And make sure no one finds the passage! That’s the least you can do!”

Madeleine ended the call and went to the dining room which wasn’t registered. Then she came back, took another container and went somewhere again. The recording ended when Madeleine left the restaurant.

“Bastien, send guards and all royal investigators to Karlington. They can’t come back home without finding all the secret passages. It’s time Madeleine pay.”


	20. TWENTY

Riley opened her eyes, woken up by a nightmare. She was in the middle of her burning restaurant again but this time no one was coming. The heat was consuming her.

Except that in reality, the heat was really consuming her. Drake was spooning her and the combination of September’s warm weather and Drake being a living furnace left Riley feeling as if she was still in the middle of fire.

But she didn’t mind it.

It felt so good to be in Drake’s arms, safe at home, home with _him_ that she didn’t mind.

Riley gently turned around to face her husband, a very _unexpected_ husband but she grew to like, no, love him and she couldn’t imagine not having this grumpy, whiskey-loving man in her life. She closed her eyes, inhaling the smell of Drake; it smelled like a forest early in the morning, it smelled like man she loved, it smelled like _home_. Drake was her home.

She smiled as she stroked Drake’s cheek with her finger. She heard a quiet groan before her blue eyes met with his brown ones.

“Good morning,” she said as he blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up.

“Mornin’,” he leaned down to kiss her and it immediately made her even warmer. Still, she didn’t mind.

She deepened the kiss and they were making out for a moment before Drake yawned in the middle of their kiss.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling away, “I’m still not fully awake. I need a gallon of coffee.”

“Or,” Riley raised her eyebrows, “we can wake you up in a different way.”

“Riley.” Drake looked at her chidingly. “You were in an accident like yesterday.”

“I was dismissed from hospital yesterday, the accident was two days ago,” she corrected and Drake shook his head in disbelief.

“A day and a half ago, then.”

“Oh come on, Drake, the doctors said I was fine! Besides, they said I should what I felt was okay to do and this is exactly what I think is okay to do.”

“Riley…”

“I’m just trying to be nice and help you wake up, that’s all,” she pouted. Would that make her feel even hotter than she already felt? Yes. Would that make her feel like she was on fire? Yes. Did she mind? Nope.

“Riley…” he groaned before leaning down again and kissing her passionately and in that moment she knew she just won their first married fight.

~~~~

“Where are you taking me?” Danielle asked as Liam led her out of the palace. After the revelation about Madeleine, Liam canceled all his meetings and waited for the news from Karlington. Besides, there was still one thing he desperately wanted to do before the confrontation with Danielle’s parents, which was scheduled for later.

“I want to show you something. Something special,” _just like you_ , he thought to himself. They entered the maze and Liam turned into an alley which eventually led them to a small rose garden.

Liam stopped by the little bush of roses, in the most beautiful color Danielle ever saw. It was something between pastel pink and lilac, a color she never saw.

“They’re so beautiful,” she whispered, admiring the view.

“These are Eleanor roses,” he explained. “This was the color of the flowers my mother had in her wedding bouquet. My father had these planted for her as a birthday present. It took a few years to make these roses look like that but my mom loved it. I’ve been coming here whenever I miss her. The smell reminds me of her.”

“Oh Liam. This is such a sweet story. These are gorgeous, I’ve never seen anything like it!” Danielle exclaimed. “Roses are my favorite flowers! And the color is just unreal! Although I’ve always been a fan of coral ones.”

“I know,” Liam admitted. “I figured after you picked up coral roses for the date we set up for Drake and Riley.”

Danielle chuckled, “they brought them luck!”

Liam smiled but it faded and his face was serious again. “I… I asked the royal gardener to plant them here. Next to my mom’s roses,” he admitted. “I thought… if you wanted to stay here… even if it’s just because of our baby, I thought it’d be nice to have your favorite flowers here.”

Danielle looked at him, her eyes wide open and full of tears, threatening to fall and water the roses.

“I’m sorry if it was a stupid idea, I—” Liam started but Dani threw herself at him, not letting him finish.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” she said in between kissing him and crying. Liam stood still at first, not even registering what was happening but he quickly recomposed himself and kissed her back.

They were both breathless when they parted.

Liam took Danielle’s hands and pulled her closer, their foreheads touching.

“Please tell me I didn’t misheard something and you really said you loved me.”

Danielle chucked as she felt Liam’s tears on her cheek. “I love you, Liam. I don’t know what I did to deserve you but I don’t want to question it.”

“I love you so much, Danielle Brooks.”

“Danielle Eleanor Brooks,” she said with a smile and Liam took a step back to look her in the eyes.

“Your middle name is Eleanor?” he asked.

“Yes,” she nodded and chuckled at his disbelief.

“Now I am _sure_ it was my mom who sent you to me,” Liam said before pulling her into another kiss.

“Now that I know how you feel about me,” Liam started when he pulled away a few minutes later, “I think I finally have the guts to do this.”

“To do what?” Dani asked confused but she understood as Liam got down on one knee. “Liam…”

“Danielle _Eleanor_ Brooks,” he took out a velvet box out of his pocket. If she only knew how heavy that box was, holding their whole possible future inside. “My whole life I knew I was supposed to marry for the crown, I knew love wasn’t in my cards. I mourned this almost every day but I was reconciled with it. I thought my chance at real love was lost… and then I met you. I tried not to get my hopes up but the truth is, you bewitched me completely. You made me believe in love again. You made me love again. You’re making me a father.” Liam took a deep breath and noticed Danielle was already crying. If he hadn’t been taught how to keep all his emotions inside as a monarch, he’d probably be a sobbing mess himself. “I love you, Danielle. I love you and I love our baby and I want us to have a future. Will you marry me?”

Liam didn’t even have a chance to open the box before Danielle threw herself at him, knocking him down and covering his face with kisses.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she sobbed into his face, his hair, his neck. Liam managed to slip the ring onto her finger before she attacked him with even more kisses.

They were kissing under the Eleanor rose bush, next to Danielle rose bush, starting their new life together.

~~~~

“Sir, Mr and Mrs Brooks are here,” Bastien announced as Liam entered the throne room.

“Great, bring them here,” he said and Bastien nodded.

After the proposal, Liam admitted he invited Danielle’s parents to _discuss_ a few things and she said it was okay. What he didn’t say was that he was actually accusing them of treason rather than wanting to only discuss. Luckily, Danielle didn’t want to come with him, and she stayed in the room, trying to call Riley to tell her good news.

“Mr and Mrs Brooks,” Bastien said as two people entered the room behind him.

“Thank you Bastien,” he nodded and looked at Danielle’s parents.

“Your Highness, it’s an honor!” Dani’s father exclaimed while his wife was admiring the room.

“Your Majesty,” Liam corrected, trying to keep calm.

“Of course, your Majesty! Why did you wish to see us? Have you heard of me and my little business in America?” Mr Brooks asked with a smile on his face; his wife was now looking at a portrait of his mother.

“No, actually. You’re here because you’re accused of treason,” Liam explained as the smile from Mr Brooks’ face disappeared.

“We… what?! I can promise you we never hurt anyone! Who… Against who did we…?”

“You are accused of treason against the royal heir, against my child.”

Mr Brooks’ eyes widened, and Mrs Brooks finally looked at Liam.

“We… would never! Children are… such a blessing, we would never! I didn’t even know you had a child, I never even met you! This must be a mistake!”

“I assure you, it is not. Wasn’t it you _demanding_ that my fiancée aborts the baby?”

“Umm… I don’t think so, I mean, I never met your fiancée, your High—Majesty.”

Danielle’s father looked so confused that Liam had to control himself to not start laughing; his wife on the other hand seemed to have a confused face naturally.

“Trent,” she whispered, “when did you try to abort a royal baby?”

“Never!” he hissed.

“Oh?” Liam asked. “My fiancée, _Duchess_ Danielle Eleanor Brooks claimed otherwise.”

“The… what?” Mr Brooks stared at Liam in disbelief. “Duchess… what?”

“What a coincidence! Our daughter’s name is Danielle too!” Mrs Brooks exclaimed happily.

“Yes, I am aware, madam, as I am speaking of your very own daughter,” Liam explained calmly. “I can’t even imagine how a father can ask his daughter to so such a thing and have no shame, whatsoever.”

“Your Majesty, we had no idea it was your baby. If we knew we wouldn’t—”

“So it is okay to do unless it is a royal baby?” Liam couldn’t believe it.

“Of course! If Dani’s pregnant with the royal heir that means… that means… we are a future King’s or Queen’s grandparents!”

“Oh my gosh, we are nobility!” Mrs Brooks gasped.

“And if Dani’s a duchess now… we should get a title as well!”

“You what?” Now it was Liam who was confused.

“Our daughter is a duchess. Our grandkid will be a monarch. It’s only natural that we get a title too.” Mr Brooks explained.

“Imagine Karen’s face when we tell her we are Cordonian nobility!” Mrs Brooks laughed loudly and Liam wondered how Danielle could bear with them for so long.

“ENOUGH!” Liam yelled and both of them stopped talking. “You are getting no titles! You mistreated my fiancée, you mistreated Riley. Instead of supporting your daughter, you wanted her to abort the baby, against her will. And you think you deserve a title?” Liam was mad. Very mad. But he also thought of Danielle. What would she say about this?

“You’re marrying our daughter, I would say we do deserve at least the title of the Lord.”

“You deserve nothing,” Liam hissed.

“Well then, I don’t agree for you to marry her. Where is she? I’m taking her back to States. No title, no Dani.”

“Bastien, have them arrested immediately. For offending the King, the Duchess and the treason.”

“What?” Mr Brooks asked, losing his confidence.

“In the meantime, get someone to pack their belongings. They will be in jail until their flight back to the U.S., after that feel exiled from this country forever. You are not allowed to set your foot here, ever. If you break that rule, you’ll be arrested. Is that clear?”

“But…”

“Is that clear?!” Liam repeated.

“Yes, your Majesty!” Mr Brooks replied and his wife nodded. For the first time since they walked here, both of them looked genuinely scared.

Bastien led them out of the throne room and Liam sat down for a moment, taking everything in. He could only hope, Danielle and Riley’s parents wouldn’t bother them anymore.

~~~~

It was already ten in the evening when Liam got a message from his detective.

“ _Found them_ ”

Danielle was sleeping, snuggled to his chest after a day full of all kinds of emotions and feels. He quickly sent a message to Bastien and asked him to bring Madeleine to him, then he called Drake.

“Drake? Take Riley and come here as soon as possible. My guards found Savannah and Bertrand.”

“Hmm?” Danielle woke up and looked up and Liam. “What’s happening?”

“Savannah and Bertrand. Would you like to come with us or would you rather sleep some more?” He asked her softly.

“Mmm, I’ll come!”

“Are you sure? I know you’re tired.”

“I am. I want to see it for myself.”

They quickly got dressed and went to the throne room where they waited for Bastien with Madeleine and Riley and Drake.

Liam raised an eyebrow when Drake finally arrived… carrying Riley in his arms.

“Sorry,” Riley said, “Drake was practically running here and since I can’t run yet, according to him, he decided to carry me here.”

“You were in an accident!”

“That was three days ago!”

“Two and a half!” Drake argued and Riley rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, congratulations you two! I’m so happy for you!” Riley went to hug her sister while Drake high-fived Liam.

“I’ll be more happy for you when I finally learn what happened to Savannah. Are they okay?” Drake asked.

“They were found in a secret room, in a secret passage that Madeleine talked about in a recording from the restaurant. Godfrey had no choice but to tell the truth since they were found.”

“And? What’s the truth?” Riley asked.

“That it was Madeleine’s idea,” Liam shrugged. “He didn’t want to say anything else so we’re bringing him back here.”

“And Savannah and Bertrand?” Drake asked.

“Alive,” Liam said and could see Drake relaxing. “A little shaken up, Bertrand more than Savannah though.”

“And—”

“Why am I here? What is this circus all about?” Madeleine asked as she entered the room. Barthelemy was following her, and a few royal guards were making sure they wouldn’t run away.

“You’re busted, that happened.” Drake said and Liam put a hand on his shoulder.

“Let me handle it,” he said and Drake nodded. “We have just found Bertrand and Savannah. In Karlington.”

Madeleine listened, not even blinking. Her face showed no emotions, Barthelemy’s though showed a lot.

“What? But… they’re dead? What do you mean? In Karlington? Sweetheart?” He asked and Madeleine rolled her eyes.

“And? Karlington belongs to my father, should he be questioned?”

“He said it was your idea. Plus we have evidence on a camera from Riley’s restaurant, which you set on fire.”

“You’re lying. I didn’t do anything. You just want to take Bartie from us.”

“We don’t need to,” Dani interjected. “Bartie’s not the heir anymore. Liam and I’s baby is.”

“The WHAT?” Finally, Madeleine’s face started showing emotions. She was shocked, to say the least.

“Our baby,” Liam repeated.

“That’s not possible! That’s not—” she stopped.

“Oh I think you know it is possible. You just wanted me to believe it wasn’t.”

“My love?” Barthelemy asked. “I don’t understand anything.”

“Shut up,” Madeleine hissed. She looked so different now, far from composed and… a little crazy. “I can’t believe that little bitch ruined everything.”

“Watch your mouth, Madeleine,” Liam warned.

“And you should’ve watched your dick!” Madeleine snapped back and Barthelemy’s eyes widened at her outburst.

“Sweetheart…”

“SHUT UP! I didn’t put up with your old ass just to have my chance taken away from me!”

“Why did you even need Savannah and Bertrand? What was your point?” Drake asked.

“You’re so dumb, I can’t even believe you graduated college,” Madeleine rolled her eyes. “I needed them to disappear so I could be the only legal guardian for Bartie, the future heir.”

“But what for?” Riley asked.

“Your wife is dumb too I see. Because we wouldn’t have any kids with Liam. And it was easier for Liam to believe that he can’t have kids. I knew Liam would appoint Bartie, that’s the only kid he knows.”

“But… if you stayed with Liam… you’d be a Queen. Why would you complicate everything so much?” Dani asked.

“Why is everyone in this room so dumb?” Madeleine groaned. “Because I would be only a wife of a King. And after Liam dies, the royal heir would become the King, not me! And if something happened to him, his family would become monarchs, not me! Now with my plan, I would become the heir’s guardian so after Liam dies, Bartie would be the King and then Bartie would die and I would become the Queen.”

“Umm… and what about your husband?” Riley asked motioning to very pale Barthelemy.

“Oh, he would die to! I had everything planned so perfectly. Savannah and Bertrand in Karlington with my father. You not able to have kids,” Madeleine looked at Liam. “Riley and Drake divorced so they wouldn’t get the custody. But of course they didn’t want to get divorced so I had to kill Riley. Too bad it didn’t work out.” Madeleine sighed.

“I still don’t understand…” Dani admitted.

“I’ll explain so you can admire my genius. Savannah and Bertrand bye bye. I am the legal guardian for Bartie. Drake and Riley divorced, if not, bye bye. Then Liam goes bye bye and Bartie takes the crown. Of course, he’s not eighteen yet, the crown belongs to me and Barthelemy. Then one day, Barthelemy dies suddenly! He’s old so everyone would believe it. I am the only guardian now. I have the crown. Bartie never turns eighteen, bye bye. I am the only monarch, I am the Queen and the King. I have the power!”

“How… would you kill that many people without being caught?” Liam asked, risking a look at Barthelemy. He looked like he was about to get a heart attack.

“I would send them all to Karlington. Just like I did with Bertrand and Savannah. And then one day, Karlington would catch on fire! And everything, with everyone inside, would burn. No one would even find anything.”

“You’d kill your own father?”

“He’s useless as you can see. Killed Liam’s mother but wasn’t able stop your father from getting another wife. Lame,” Madeleine shrugged and Dani had to squeeze Liam’s hand before he’s pass out.

“But why?” Riley asked.

“Why? WHY?! WHY?? Because I DESERVE it. I DESERVE to be a Queen! I deserve to be admired and obeyed! I DESERVE to be powerful! I was born to be a Queen, not just someone’s sidekick. I was born to rule people. I am the power. I have the power! I don’t care about anyone, I don’t care how many I’d have to eliminate, I DESERVE to be a Queen. And a King. And I can’t believe this bitch ruined everything.” Madeleine nodded towards Dani. “Pathetic. You’re nobody. A nobody got pregnant and ruined my plan. And I’m going to ruin yours.”

And before anyone could react, Madeline took out a gun from her dress and pointed at Dani.

“Madeline!” Liam yelled.

“If anyone moves, and I mean anyone, even the guards, I’ll shoot her. I have nothing to lose but you have everything to lose. Let’s see how valuable she is to you. Send your guards away to that room. Now.”

“Madeleine!” Liam started but seeing she wasn’t joking, he obeyed. The guards slowly stepped back from the throne room and went into the small maintenance room. Still pointing her gun at Dani, Madeleine closed the door, locking the guards.

“Now, I still have a chance to be a Queen. If none of you survives, there will be no evidence against me. The palace could burn too, right?”

“She’s crazy,” Riley whispered and Drake nodded slightly.

“Madeleine the Queen of Cordonia… And one day… the Queen of Europe. Or the whole world!”

“Stop it!” Barthelemy threw himself at Madeleine, completely throwing her off-balance. She managed to shoot one, not even seeing where exactly, before she was knocked down by her old husband. Drake and Liam followed suit, making it impossible for Madeleine to get up and Riley ran to open the door and let the guards out.

They quickly seized her and led her out the room, straight into jail, where Godfrey was sent a few hours later, accused of killing Queen Eleanor. Since the throne room had many cameras, it was easy to prove that Madeleine was guilty.

Barthelemy admitted that he had no idea about Madeleine’s plan; he only knew about her wanting to be Bartie’s guardian. However, he did admit he knew about Godfrey and Liam had him arrested too.

Savannah and Bertrand were reunited with their son and Drake never felt happier having his whole family back.

But the happiest part for him was the fact that Bartie was no longer the royal heir. Everyone sighed with relief when Liam announced Bartie wasn’t the heir anymore.

~~~~

“This is so crazy,” Riley commented when she and Drake was going back home from Dani and Liam’s rehearsal dinner. Their wedding was just in a few days and Riley still couldn’t believe her sister was going to be an actual Queen.

“I know, right? Everything feels so… _unexpected_. Madeleine’s plan, Dani and Liam… you and I…”

Drake kissed her gently and smiled at her. “Sometimes love can be unexpected.”

“Love, huh?” Riley smirked. “You love me!”

“I didn’t say that,” Drake chuckled. They said those three little words a while ago but Riley still made a big deal out of it.

“You loooove me! Looooove me!”

“I’m going away!”

“You loooove! La-la-la loooove me!”

“If you don’t stop, I’m getting a divorce,” Drake threatened, still laughing.

“You wouldn’t. Because you loooooooooooooooove me!”

And he did.

**THE END.**


	21. EPILOGUE

“Ugh, who needs that many parties?”

Drake shot his wife an apologetic look as she sat down on one of the chairs.

“You know I hate parties like that too but we’re Eleanor’s godparents and we really need to be here for her,” Drake said as Riley rolled her eyes. She loved Eleanor like her own child but these past two years, Eleanor had more parties than Riley ever did. And Riley was almost twenty eight.

“You know what, on one hand I find it adorable how Dani and Liam are in love with their daughter but on the other hand, who on Earth throws a party because their child said their first word? Or got their first tooth? Or because of their name day? Or for their first hundred days?” Riley shook her head, “I’m slowly becoming as grumpy and anti-social as you, Drake.”

“Hey!” Drake turned to her and narrowed his eyes. “You’re saying that now but I’m pretty sure you’ll be the same once our son is born.”

Riley sighed in hopes to look annoyed but she couldn’t hide a small smile that formed on her face. She rubbed her belly a few times before she felt familiar kicks.

Drake and Riley didn’t want to follow the tradition to find out the gender on the day of the labor and a few months ago, they found out they were going to have a son. It was a very emotional day for both of them, but especially for Drake when Riley told him she wanted to name their son _Jackson_.

It was their little secret for about four months before Riley started showing and Dani realized her sister was sipping on a non-alcoholic drink instead of champagne on Dani and Liam’s wedding anniversary party.

Yes, Dani and Liam loved throwing parties. Ever since Dani married Liam, he kept finding reasons to celebrate his wife, and then once their daughter was born, to celebrate Eleanor as well. The palace has never been a happier place.

Dani was a great Queen and even a better mother. The beginnings weren’t easy though. A few days after the photos of very pregnant Queen hit the international news, Dani and Riley’s father did an interview about the girls’ childhood, throwing a lot of shade on them and telling everyone some of their secrets. He kept referring to himself as the _Royal Grandfather_ until Liam issued a statement saying that Mr. Brooks was not to be trusted and threatened Mr. Brooks with legal actions if he kept telling the press stories about Dani and Riley. That shut him up completely.

When Dani was living her dream life as a mother and wife, Riley was living her dream too. The restaurant was completely renovated as Barthelemy decided to pay for it to compensate what his crazy wife had done. Him, Madeleine and Godfrey were in jail, each for a different reason but none of them innocent.

“If I ever decide to throw a party celebrating our son’s first tooth, please lock me up with Madeleine in jail.”

Drake chuckled at her words but before he could assure her that nothing would make him get rid of her, Riley’s face lit up as she spotted her sister.

“Dani! You look stunning!” she exclaimed and Drake turned to see his sister-in-law.

“Thank you,” Dani blushed. “So do you.”

“Yeah yeah, I know I look like a whale,” Riley rolled her eyes and Dani shook her head.

“If that’s what whales look like then I must admit they are the prettiest animals ever. Especially in that dress.”

“Agreed.” Drake raised his drink to Dani and Riley frowned when she noticed something.

“Is that juice, Dani? Why aren’t you drinking champagne like every—” Riley’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, are you… again?!”

“Shhh,” Dani shushed her sister. “Yes. But no one knows about it yet.”

“Does Liam know?” Riley asked and Dani bit her lower lip as she glanced at her husband. From the look that Liam gave Dani and a big smile on his face, Riley already knew the answer.

“We found out two weeks ago,” Dani admitted sheepishly. “You’re going to be an auntie again for little Elijah or Elizabeth.”

“You already picked names?” Drake asked confused.

“Well… When I was pregnant with Eleanor it was obvious we wanted to name her after Liam’s mother. But Liam wanted to give me other options in case I changed my mind and prepared a list of names and we picked out a few that we liked best so… yeah.”

“And obviously they all start with ‘E’,” Riley raised her eyebrow.

“I thought it was a cute idea,” Dani admitted and Drake shook his head. Dani and Liam were really made for each other.

“Well, then I guess you won’t have too many kids since there’s not many names starting with ‘E’.” Riley noticed and took a sip of her juice.

“Actually…” Riley looked as her sister turned red. “Liam prepared a whole list for me and there’s at least twenty names on it and he said, umm, I mean… It would a shame to waste it.”

“ _Twenty_?!” Riley exclaimed and Dani had to shush her again. “You two are going to overpopulate our planet!” She murmured and Drake silently agreed with her. “Although… not gonna lie, the world needs more people like you so I’m okay with it. Just… please, don’t throw so many parties for them, please!”

Dani hugged her sister and kissed her on the forehead. “I promise! Besides, I’ll be too busy attending parties for your kids,” she teased and walked away before Riley could say anything. Riley watched as her sister joined Liam and how he started whispering something to his wife that made her giggle.

“Uh uh, right. No parties for my kids until they’re eighteen,” Riley massaged her belly and Drake put his arms around her.

“So… kid _s_ , huh?”

Riley looked at him. “Kids. Maybe not _twenty_ ,’ she shook her head, “but I wouldn’t mind having more than one with you.”

“Even if you feel like a whale?” Drake grinned and Riley shoved him playfully. Oh, how much she loved him. And seeing the love his eyes, she could tell he felt the same.

“Well, that’s the price I’m willing to pay.”

———————-


End file.
